Insert Witty Title Here
by Tarrina
Summary: Here's a story about me and my best friend when we get sucked into the Avatar world. My first attempt at fanfiction so it might not be all that good but I'm trying. I am cowriting with Seeker of the Charter. ZukoOC & SokkaOC. PERMANENT HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1

Yeah so this was the product of bordom and caffiene. It's kind of kept going on forever and has become like never ending. But I digress, this is my first try at fanfiction so...be gentle would ya?

Anyway I own like...nothing. Well I do own the origional characters but other than that...nada.

**Insert Witty Title Here**

A Tarrina and Lomi Ka production

Chapter 1

It was time yet again for another one of Trina and Caroline's sleepovers. As all who knew them could already tell that it was going to be one of "those days" that they would be insane because of caffeine and sugar and that the next day would be even worse once lack of sleep was thrown in.

"Ok, so what do you want to do Caroline?" Trina asked her best friend.

"Well we could always watch my Avatar tapes."

"Yes! If all else fails watch Avatar! I haven't got a chance to freeload off anyone's cable to watch it in a long time so the last time I saw any episodes was when we watched your tapes last time you came over." Trina was now going practically insane with the prospect of getting to watch Avatar and especially about getting to stare at Zuko in the process.

"I'll get us some Mountain Dew!" Trina yelled from the back room.

"There they go already" Trina's father said, rolling his eyes, unimpressed by their enthusiasm.

Trina emerged with two 24 once bottles of Dew.

"Can't you two think of something better (and more mature) to do that watch that stupid crap all the time?" Trina's father asked trying to discourage their plans for the television.

Caroline and Trina looked at each other for a moment as if thinking.

It was Trina who first came back with the retort. "Number one Avatar is NOT stupid crap, and number two Avatar has taught us very important things like 'turns out clouds are made of water' and three," she looked at Caroline then together they practically yelled "NO!"

With that Caroline picked a tape and popped it into the VCR. The first episode that came on the tape was "The Storm".

"Caroline, why is this always the first thing that you put on. You know that despite my love of this episode how upsetting I find it." Trina asked jokingly, already knowing the answer.

"I like watching your reaction to the Agni Kai! HA!"

Trina made a sound that was kind of a cross between a whimper and a growl. It was at about that time they heard 'You will learn respect and suffering will be you teacher' come out of the TV. Trina promptly buried her face in a pillow.

"Oh come on Trina get a grip. You've seen this episode like a zillion times and you know that Zuko makes it."

"Hey don't be making fun of me! You'd be doing the same thing if that was Sokka whose face was going from original recipe to extra crispy."

"How could you ever suggest such a thing?" She said with her own face now buried in a pillow. "Leave Sokka out of this! But I guess you're right, I still think your reaction is funny though."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Trina said in a tone of mock annoyance. "I say that for this I get to watch "Southern Air Temple" twice. That Agni Kai is much batter" She said with a grin.

Caroline started laughing and managed to get out "OH yeah you would think that" in between her laughter. "OK I guess we can do that if it would make poor little Trina feel better."

"Yes it would make poor little Trina feel better."

Some time later after having watched all the episodes

"Well that is seriously some good stuff," Trina said. "And every time I see those they seem to get better."

"I can't believe you two just watched all the episodes of that dumb show," Trina's father said as he walked into the room. "You two really need to get a life and get over that made up crap."

Two voices answered him with "SHUT UP!"

Later that night

By this time Caroline and Trina were laying in their beds but were not tired enough to go to sleep. So they talked about a bunch of random stuff.

"So have you had any interesting dreams lately, Caroline?"

"No, but let me guess, you've been dreaming about Zuko again. Haven't you? Be honest."

"Yeah maybe, but nothing that I really remember that much," Trina sounded saddened by the fact that she couldn't remember any recent dreams about Zuko (or more specifically about herself and Zuko after the marriage she had dreamed of previously.)

"Don't worry I know you'll dream about your happy family again eventually."

"Thanks Caroline that's exactly what I needed to hear," Trina said with a smile.

"I guess we better go to sleep because I have to leave early tomorrow," Caroline said. She had to leave early because she had a doctor's appointment that would take a while to get to.

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight"

Morning

Caroline was packing up her stuff so it would be ready when her dad came to pick her up.

Of course they did still have a little while so they had to find some way to amuse themselves. They briefly considered going outside but quickly abandoned the idea because it looked like there was a storm coming. Ever since Trina got indirectly struck by lightning there was not getting her outside when it was threatening to storm.

They decided to go online to see if they could find out any more about the upcoming new episodes that were coming up. They couldn't find any new info so they turned off the computer so it wouldn't get fried in the storm (that had now drawn much closer.)

It was now starting to get darker and it was starting to rain.

At about that time the storm started to really pick up. There was a lot of lightning and thunder, which meant Trina, was getting paranoid and was practically cowering behind Caroline.

It was then that her dad pulled into the drive way.

"Oh no you can't go out there even to just go to the car!" Trina cried "you'll get struck by lightning!" Trina was whimpering uncontrollably by now.

"No I won't. Just come out with me when I go to the car and you'll see. You need to get over your fear sometime," Caroline said reassuringly.

"If you say so. I really don't want to go outside but if you say I'll be OK if I go with you I trust you. I'll help you carry your stuff out. But I'm still not thrilled about going outside."

Trina and Caroline went upstairs to get Caroline's stuff. When they came back downstairs and looked out the window they saw that the storm was still getting worse.

"Are you sure we'll be OK," Trina asked yet again.

"Yes we'll be perfectly fine," Caroline said but at that point she was beginning to doubt that a bit herself (not that she was going to admit it, especially to Trina.

They had all the stuff gathered up and were outside with it putting it in the car when a very strange thing happened. They had just finished putting the Caroline's bags in the car and were giving each other a hug good bye when the bolt hit. A strange bolt of red lightning engulfed them. They sensation it caused was not pain as one would think would be indicted by a lightning strike, but more of a weird tingling. It seemed to last for quite a long time. They both felt as if they were being lifted off the ground. When the lightning finally was gone so were the two girls.

At that point they felt like they were flying at break neck speed. Strange psycadelic colors swirled around them. The two were still clinging to each other inside the lightning, but they were quickly loosing their grip on each other.

"I thought you said nothing bad was going to happen!" Trina yelled.

"I guess I was wrong!" Caroline yelled back.

With that they both finally lost their grips on each other. They tumbled away from each other and the lightning split into two distinct bolts.

With Trina

Trina felt herself falling and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop it; all she could do was wait for the end. But it was not the end. She did however hit the ground very hard (enough to break a few bones) and at that point the lightning caused a pain of its own. It was a great burning pain unlike any she had ever felt before.

Trina screamed a scream unlike any she had ever voiced before, filled with anguished pain. It could be heard for quite a distance but it didn't need to be because she had landed right in the middle of the hard metal deck of a Fire Nation ship, and not just any ship mind you this was Prince Zuko's vessel.

The lightning now quickly dissipated but its brightness left her blinded for a moment but it didn't really matter because before she had a chance to move she let out a weak moan and blacked out.

At this point the attention of the men was no longer on battling the storm but it was on her (not that she knew it).

"Some one get her below deck!" Iroh shouted above the storm. Everyone was still too stunned from her sudden appearance in the lightning bolt to move.

Iroh shouted again, this time to Zuko, "Take her below deck! If we leave her up here she'll be swept overboard!"

Zuko nodded and gathered Trina up in his arms and proceeded below deck. Trina woke for the briefest of seconds and felt that she was being carried. She opened her eyes to see who her savior was and could not believe that she was looking up at the scarred face of the Fire Nation's prince. She moaned again and passed out again thinking it was all because the lightning had scrambled her brain.

When he heard the girl moan Zuko looked down at the limp being in his arms. It was at this point that he noticed just how strangely she was dressed. She wore baggy, green cargo pants (they zip off at the knee) and a black shirt with Fire Nation insignia on it. As you can imagine her appearance was puzzling to the young bender.

He carried her to the infirmary and laid her on one of the cots and stood back and looked at her, he noticed her hair. He now saw how light her hair color was. Even though it was wet he had never seen hair that light and he couldn't help but wonder what color it would be when it was dry. He also noticed that she had it pulled back the same way he did in a high ponytail.

He knew that because of the storm he had to return to the deck and help the men so he turned to the ship's doctor and instructed him to take care of her an to inform him when she awoke or if any thing was needed. He had to stop a moment and look back at this strange girl one more time before he left the room.

With Caroline

While all this was happening to Trina, Caroline was going through a similar experience. Only instead of crashing into the hard metal of a ship's deck, she slammed into the muddy ground at the mouth of a cave. And it just so happened that the Avatar and his friends were seeking shelter from the storm in the cave.

Caroline's scream rent the wet stormy air and was just as pained as her best friend's. She also moaned and passed out like Trina had.

When they heard the scream Aang, Katara, and Sokka all ran to the cave entrance and saw Caroline lying on the muddy ground in the rain. Sokka quickly went out and picked her up and carried her back into the cave and laid her next to their small fire.

Katara used her water bending to get most of the mud off of Caroline. The more mud they cleaned off the girl the more strange things they started to notice.

She was dressed in a way that none of the three had ever seen before. Caroline had on blue jeans in a blue shirt with a Water Tribe symbol on it. The color of her hair was as strange to them as Trina's hair had been to Zuko. It was very similar in color to Trina's but it was slightly darker. Caroline's hair was much shorter than Trina's though. It was pulled back in a way that was not completely unlike Sokka's but it was not cropped short next to the skull on the sides, it was all the same length.

Now as intrigued as they were with Caroline's appearance they knew that they had to do something for her or she would grow ill. They added more wood to their small fire in an attempt to warm her up but seeing as she was soaked to the bone it wasn't really doing them any good to do this.

Katara realized that she had to get this girl out of her wet clothes or they would never get her warm enough to pull her through. She sent Aang and Sokka back further into the cave and began to peel away the wet clothing so she could redress this girl in some of her own clothes. When Katara revealed the skin beneath the wet clothes she saw large amounts of bruising from when she hit the ground. She didn't think that anything was broken so Katara quickly dressed Caroline in her own clothes. If the situation hadn't been so serious she would have laughed at the way the strange girl looked. The pants Katara had put on the girl only came down to her mid shins.

Now that Caroline had dry clothes on Katara decided to make use of Sokka's sleeping bag as well. Sokka began to protest went he returned but stopped because of the look that his sister gave him. Caroline was not beginning to get warmed up and she had stopped shivering.

Now if only things were going so well for Trina.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok so here's the second chapter.

I really want to say thank you and I love you forever to the peeps that reviewed. Ya'll have no idea haw happy you made me.

So on with it then I guess… oh yeah disclaimer same as in first chapter blah, blah, blah.

Chapter 2

Zuko's Ship

The storm had settled fairly quickly and now in the calmness Zuko couldn't help but think of the mysterious girl below deck in the infirmary. He decided to check up on her condition and went below deck. On his way to the infirmary he met his uncle heading the same direction.

"So Prince Zuko I see that you are just as intrigued as I am about our young guest," Iroh stated.

"Yes Uncle," he replied even though in a way he didn't want to admit it.

They entered the infirmary together a few minutes later and the moment they stepped in they almost wished that they hadn't. The doctor was attempting to bind Trina's broken bones. He had already bandaged her forearms that had been burned badly in the lightning strike. Despite the fact that she was not fully conscious she still was thrashing and screaming in pain. In between the screams she whimpered weakly and called out something that sounded like "Lomi Ka". She was still shivering violently because all of the doctor's attempts to warm her had failed.

Zuko was surprised at the seriousness of the girl's condition. She hadn't seemed this bad when he carried her down here. And she seemed to be worsening even as she stood there watching her.

When the doctor noticed that the prince and retired general had entered the room he asked them to hold her still long enough for him to finish binding her broken bones. Iroh held onto one of her shoulders while Zuko held the other. They managed to hold her still enough for the doctor to finish binding her ribs. (If you fell out of the sky onto the hard metal deck of a ship you'd have broken ribs too.)

By this time Trina had eventually quieted herself, and was now beginning to awaken. She stirred very lightly at first and moaned. The moan caught the attention of every one in the room. Zuko moved to go to her (he wanted answers and he wanted then now) but Iroh stopped him.

"Let the doctor work Zuko. She is still very weak any she probably wouldn't be able to answer any of your questions yet anyway," Iroh said while still holding onto Zuko's arm.

Zuko nodded and stepped back to his previous position and stared at the girl.

It was at that time that Trina woke up and opened her eyes and she wished that she hadn't because of the wave of pain that crashed over her. She squeezed he eyes shut trying to rid herself of the pain. She began to whimper again because of the intensity of the pain.

The doctor spoke to her in soft tones. "Shhhh, child, you'll be alright I'll make sure of that."

Trina opened her eyes again looked up at the doctor with bleary eyes. She blinked a few times to clear them and she couldn't believe what she saw before her. The doctor was wearing Fire Nation armor. She couldn't get her lightning fried brain to process this.

She softly asked him for some water so she could wet down her parched throat.

He motioned for either Zuko or Iroh to bring him the pitcher of water on the table. Zuko quickly stepped forward and handed him the pitcher. At this point he stepped into Trina's line of vision causing her to gasp and choke on the water she was being given. The doctor quickly pulled back the glass of water he had filled for her. Even without the water she continued coughing and soon she was coughing up blood and started to shiver again.

The doctor then turned to Zuko and Iroh and said, "I'm not sure there is anything more I can do for her. I can't get her to warm up and if she doesn't soon, we'll lose her."

They both nodded in understanding. Then Iroh asked if dry clothes would make a difference.

"Of course they would but everything onboard is waterlogged from the storm," came the doctor's reply as he turned back to the girl on the cot.

"Prince Zuko would you please go see if you could find something for her."

"Yes Uncle," Zuko said and nodded.

Zuko left the room to find something dry for the strange girl. He was unsure of where to look because the ship's doctor was right almost everything was waterlogged. All of the cabins had gotten some amount of water in them, all the cabins except…his. He was a bit unsure about taking any of his own clothing to a girl he knew nothing about. But in the end he forced himself to take down one of his older training outfits. It was a little narrow across the shoulders anyway.

When he returned to the infirmary he saw that the doctor and his uncle were trying to find a way to warm her up. When they saw him they exchanged glances and beckoned him. Zuko hesitated slightly because of the look in his uncle's eyes.

"What are you planning Uncle?" he asked apprehensively.

"Oh Prince Zuko we just want you to help us warm her up," Iroh said innocently.

"Isn't that why I went and found her something dry?"

"Why Prince Zuko I believe that these are your clothes," Iroh stated.

"That's the only thing that's dry," he replied in a stiff irritated voice. After a few moments he sighed and asked "so what is it that you want me to do?"

"Well we think that if you were to stay with her tonight and if your used you bending to raise you body temperature we might be able to pull her through."

"So you want me to sleep with a girl I've never really met?" He asked in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"Please Zuko she may die otherwise, then you'll never get to ask your questions of her."

"I can't believe that you're using that against me," Zuko said. "Why couldn't someone else do it?"

"Now you see Prince Zuko if we left her alone with one of the other men who knows what might happen considering how long it's been since many of them have even seen a woman."

Zuko sighed but he did finally resigned to follow this "plan".

Trina hadn't stirred since Zuko had left to find her dry clothes. In his own Zukoish way he has beginning to worry. (Not that he would ever admit it if he was asked.)

The doctor had dressed her in the clothes that Zuko had brought and the warmth of dry clothes did help some, but not very much.

They knew that if they didn't do something very soon it was a distinct possibility that she would die. Iroh and the doctor decided to strip Zuko to the waist so it would make the heat transfer easier (despite all of Zuko's protests Iroh eventually won out in the end.)

Zuko was far from happy about what his uncle was making him do, but in the end he did lay down on the cot beside Trina. He was truly surprised at how cold she felt to his touch. He immediately began to raise his body temperature (his annoyance at the situation did allow him to generate more heat though). He knew though it would do her no good unless he pulled her closer. At the thought he blushed and awkwardly pulled her to his chest. He was unspeakably glad that this girl was unconscious during this and that his uncle and the doctor had left the room. If Iroh was to see this he would never hear the end of it.

As his own body warmed he felt Trina gradually get warmer too. She soon stopped shivering and slipped into was could be called a contented sleep (or as close to it as one can get when she is in that much pain.) Zuko felt her stop shivering and felt himself drifting to sleep as well.

It was right after Zuko had fallen asleep that Iroh decided to check up on the girl's condition. He stuck his head in the door and softly called to his nephew. When no answer came he stepped into the room. He smiled when he saw the two teens on the cot and spread over them a thick dry blanket he had found and then left silently. He would tell Zuko just how close the two had been later but he did not want to wake them now. (Poor Zuko would never be free of his uncle's teasing.)

back in the cave with Caroline

Caroline was warming nicely and was beginning to regain consciousness when the three companions gathered around her. She woke slowly and blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. When it finally did clear she nearly screamed when she saw her favorite cartoon characters staring down at her.

Caroline's thought process was,_ as cool as this is this can't be real can it?_

_"Am I still dreaming," she managed to force out softly._

"No," Katara said softly. "You'll be OK now."

Caroline was slowly regaining her senses when she realized that her friend was no longer with her.

"Where is my best friend? Where is Tarrina?" (Caroline and Trina often used different names for each other.)

"There was no one with you when we found you. What are you talking about?" Sokka asked.

He was very intrigued by this girl because he had never seen anyone quite like her before. He wanted to ask her a million questions but held back because he felt sorry for the girl and didn't want to scare her.

She wasn't scared though after she had gotten over the initial shock of being in the presence of her favorite cartoon characters.

There was a lingering silence between them for a few moments but it was Aang who finally break the silence when we asked, "So what's your name?"

"Lomi Ka."

"What kind of a name is that?" Sokka asked rather rudely.

"A very good one I'll have you know!" Caroline rasped and coughed because her throat was still so dry.

"Don't pay any attention to Sokka. That's Aang," Katara motioned to the younger boy. "And my name is Katara." Caroline of course already knew this but didn't let on that she did.

"Pleased to meet all of you," she rasped and coughed again and decided that she needed some water.

She reached for the canteen that was sitting on the ground next to her and before anyone had a chance to get it for her the top of it was off and she was bending it.

"You're a water bender?" Katara asked excitedly.

"I guess so, I've never been able to do that before," Caroline answered

It was at that point that Caroline felt a sneeze coming and she couldn't hold it back. She sneezed loudly and large flames shot out of her nose. Aang, Katara, and Sokka all jumped back away from her.

"You're a fire bender!" Sokka shouted accusingly. He now had an instant distrust of her. (Even though she was still too weak to have tried anything.)

He was unable to comprehend the fact that she could bend both fire and water. Aang and Katara were having trouble processing this as well.

Aang was especially mystified by her bending. He had never heard of anyone being able to bend more than one element other than the Avatar.

"How is it that you can bend more that one element?" Aang probed

"I guess that it's because my mother is Fire Nation and my father is of the Water Tribe." This had been the joke back home that came about because of a dream, but it sounded like a good excuse so she went with it.

The other young benders accepted this and didn't bring it up again. They had a more pressing question on their minds.

"So why did you fall out of the sky?" Sokka asked rather bluntly. At this point he wanted answers right now from this fire-water bender.

"Sokka be nice, incase you haven't noticed Lomi Ka has had a rough day!" Katara scolded her brother.

"It's alright, really. I'm just not sure what to say. I mean I'm not even completely sure what happened. I mean on minute I'm saying goodbye to my best friend and the next thing I know I'm being struck by lightning and then I was here. I don't know if I can ever get home."

"Don't worry we'll figure something out," Aang said trying to lighten the situation.

Caroline faked a smile because she couldn't help but worry for her missing friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the next chappie! YAY! (sorry I had too much sugar today)

Chapter 3

Zuko's Ship

The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon when Zuko began to stir. He rose from the cot as quickly as he could without disturbing the girl. He turned around to pick up his shirt to put back on when he saw his uncle standing there was a huge grin on his face.

"What now Uncle?"

"Oh is there anything that says I can't come and check on this girl?"

"Yes and seeing me in bed with a girl I'm sure has nothing to do with it?"

"Why of course not Prince Zuko, but I'm not getting any younger you know and I _would_ like to hear the pitter patter of little feet before I go."

At that comment all of Zuko's face turned almost as red as his scar. "Uncle Do Not Start That Again!" Zuko's fists were smoking (a lot) at this point.

Now as fate would have it now was the time that Trina began to wake up. As her senses returned to her she found that she hurt all over, even more so with each intake of breath. She moaned softly but neither of the two men heard because of the "conversation" they were having. The smoke from Zuko's fists was filling the room quickly and it was soon swirling all around Trina's cot.

At the moment the smoke entered her lungs she began coughing violently. Now that caught their attention. "Now look what you've done Zuko."

"Me? You started…Oh forget it"

Iroh moved to her bedside quickly. "Just relax you're alright," he reassured her.

Trina slowly opened her eyes but she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Surely this couldn't be real and it was just a trick her mind was playing on her.

"Where…….ugh," she managed before the pain in her ribs became too much for her again. She wrapped her arms around her protesting ribs and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't worry child, you'll be alright. My name is Iroh and this is my nephew, Prince Zuko and this is his ship," he said as he pulled Zuko into the girl's line of vision. "I would like very much to know your name."

"Tarrina," she gasped out between coughs. "Water, please," she rasped.

"Of course." Iroh moved to get her some water when she began coughing violently again. This time she started to cough up blood.

"Zuko help her sit up otherwise she'll choke on her own blood! Stay with her while I go get the doctor."

Zuko nodded and quickly moved forward to Trina. By the time he got to her not only blood was issuing from her mouth, but smoke and small flames as well.

As he helped her sit up her coughing finally subsided. '_So you're a fire bender_,' Zuko thought as he sat beside her holding her upright. It took him buy surprise when she summoned the strength to turn slightly and clung to the front of his shirt trying to steady herself. Her grip was actually quite strong considering the condition she was in and the she was just a girl.

He was sitting on the cot in this awkward position when his uncle and the doctor entered the room. Zuko though he felt a blush rising in his cheeks but forced it away.

"Well, Zuko it looks as if Tarrina has taken quite a fancy to you."

Zuko didn't even bother to answer he simply glared at Iroh, but he knew he was blushing this time. "Get her some water, Uncle."

"Oh yes I had forgotten."

Iroh moved forward with the water as Zuko growled at the doctor, "get her off me, she's bleeding on my shirt."

"Yes, Sir."

Sure enough there was a spot of blood on Zuko's shirt where Trina had been. A rather large one actually.

"Oh, my," Iroh gasped upon seeing all the blood. No one had really realized just how badly injured she was until that point.

"Water," she begged again.

Iroh held the cup to her lips and she gulped it greedily spurring another fit of coughing. "Slow down or you'll choke yourself."

She settled herself and drank slower. She felt a little better and asked the question that had been burning in her own mind. "Where is Lomi Ka, is she alright?"

The men looked at each other not knowing who she was talking about.

"Who child? There was no one with you when we found you," the doctor said.

Trina groaned and felt like crying. So much for all her fantasies about being on Zuko's ship. She had lost her family, health, and her best friend all in one day.

"You mean she's gone?" Trina choked back a sob and let silent tears slide down her cheeks.

Iroh moved to her offering what comfort he could to this girl that they knew nothing about other than her name and that she had lost her friend. He sat on the cot beside her she threw her arms around him and sobbed on his shoulder. Her reaction startled all three of them.

"Hurts……ribs……,"she forced out between sobs.

"Don't you have anything you could give her for the pain?" Iroh asked still holding the girl.

"Prince Zuko would you bring me the bottle of brandy out of the medicine cabinet?"

He nodded and got the bottle and handed it to the doctor. "It should help to numb her senses." He poured some of it into a cup and gave the bottle back to Zuko to put away.

The doctor moved to her and spoke softly to her, "Tarrina, I need you to drink this down. " She took a sip and made a face. "I know it doesn't taste very good to you, but you need to drink it. All of it now."

She downed the liquor and continued clinging to Iroh still crying. She felt the pain subside slightly and she cried herself to sleep.

Iroh laid her back down on the bed when he felt he breathing even out signaling that she had indeed fallen asleep. "One of us should stay with her tonight in case she awakens or has another coughing spell."

"You're right General Iroh," the doctor said. At that point both he and Iroh turned and looked at Zuko.

"What? No I stayed with her last night. You can't ask me to do it again."

"Maybe I can't ask you to stay the night here, but I can tell you to."

"Uncle," Zuko then made and annoyed and unhappy sound that sounded very much like a growl.

"Oh come now Prince Zuko you know we can't leave her here by herself."

"Why not?"

"I already gave you a reason but besides them who knows what would happen to her if we left her unguarded of a ship full of men who haven't seen a woman in a long time."

"Well we don't need to worry about that yet because I'll tend to her today," the doctor said. "She'll need to have her injuries tended to so don't worry about it until later. Now gentlemen I believe I no longer need your help at the moment."

Both Iroh and Zuko left the room at that point and left the doctor to his work. The doctor looked down at the girl on the cot. He started to reexamine all of the bindings on her broken bones to make sure nothing had shifted during any of her fits.

While he was checking her bandaging he noticed that forearms had been bleeding. It had stopped itself but the bandage needed to be changed. He unraveled the wrapping and examined them to make sure that they would not become infected. He spread some salve on them to minimize the scaring that the burns would cause but he knew that it wouldn't get rid of them completely.

She was breathing normally and evenly now so he discerned that whatever had caused her to cough up blood had rectified itself.

Trina was beginning to stir slightly and slowly woke up. She groaned softly and her green eyes began roving the room. "wha…., where…." she whispered then she remembered what had happened the day before.

"How are you feeling Tarrina?" the doctor asked.

"A little better that before but not great. By the way don't get struck by lightning, not fun," she groaned.

"I imagine not."

"You have no idea," she managed to smile weakly.

"So child, are you hungry. Is there anything that I can get for you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am a little hungry. Heck I'm really hungry. I'll eat whatever you give me."

The doctor laughed a bit at what Trina had said. "I'll go see what I can find for you to eat."

With that he left the room and she was left in the room by herself. She started to sit up so she could get a better look at the room she was in but because of the pain it caused her she quickly decided against it.

Iroh entered the room at about that time. "Now you should not be moving around so soon young one. Just tell me what you need and I'll help you."

"I just want to sit up."

"Alright. You know that after what you've been through you can expect yourself to heal overnight," Iroh said as he helped her up.

She hissed slightly in pain. "I'm sorry if I hurt you," Iroh told her softly.

"It's not you; it just hurts no matter what."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll feel better and be back to your old self in no time."

"I'm not sure you really want that," Trina said with a slight laugh that turned into a groan.

"So child, you're a fire bender?" At Iroh's comment Trina cocked her head questioningly. "You don't know if you're a fire bender? But my nephew said he saw you coughing up smoke and flames earlier this morning."

"I've never been able to bend _anything_ before."

The door opened and the doctor reentered with a tray with a bowl of noodles and a cup of tea. He set the tray down across Trina's lap and she immediately began eating ravenously.

"I guess I was hungrier than I thought," she said. She had finished in practically a matter of seconds. "Thank you. You have all been so kind to me."

At that moment Zuko's angry voice echoed through the hall. "Uncle, Uncle where are you?" He burst through the door startling the occupants of the room. "Uncle what are you doing!"

"Well aren't you a regular ray of sunshine," Trina said (it did not improve his attitude at all.)

"You shut your mouth! I wasn't talking to you!"

"Prince Zuko there is no excuse for that! Calm yourself. She's been through a lot," Iroh scolded his nephew.

"Uncle Iroh, I told you to keep watch for the Avatar!"

"You will not find him today Zuko. The storm will have forced them to take shelter somewhere and they probably won't have come out yet."

Zuko blew some smoke from his nostrils in frustration. Trina wondered if she could do that too since she was a fire bender. She gathered what strength she had and what concentration she could muster, which wasn't really that much (stupid ADD), and she tried it for herself. Of course she had not idea what she was doing but she actually ended up doing it.

"What are you doing? Are you challenging me?" Zuko yelled at her.

"No, not while I'm bed ridden at least, and you're lucky that I am or I'd be whoopin' on your ass!" She yelled back at him, ignoring the pain the exertion was causing her.

"Like you could really whoop my ass."

"Now, now. Children you both need to calm down."

"I'm not a child!" Both Trina and Zuko shouted at the same time.

"I am 18 I'll have you know. I bet Mister High-and-Mighty-Prince," Trina mocked, "isn't over 16." Trina knew she was right and had a smug grin on her face.

"Now you just see here," Zuko's fists were flaming by now and he was yelling. "This is my ship an-"

"Zuko enough. Stop it both of you. Tarrina we don't need you injuring yourself further by arguing with my nephew."

"Whatever," she huffed.

Zuko stomped out of the room and slammed the door. As soon as he had left Trina collapsed back onto the cot, moaning in pain, breathing heavily.

"You really shouldn't have pushed him like that. If you get him mad enough I won't be able to stop him from hurting you." The doctor nodded his agreement to what Iroh had just said.

"I'm sorry. I let my temper get the best of me."

"You and my nephew have something in common then."

Trina rolled over on the cot and turned away for Iroh. "I am very tired Iroh, I'm going back to sleep." Iroh could hear her voice quivering when she said that but understood that she needed some time alone. The doctor saw this as well and left the room with Iroh.

As soon as Trina heard them leave the room she dissolved into tears. She was beginning to wonder what she ever saw in Zuko. Her horrible experience was causing her façade to break. She couldn't help but wonder what had become of Caroline.

With Caroline

Caroline was awoken at dawn the next morning when Katara gently shook her shoulder. "Lomi Ka, wake up. Aang and I are off to the marketplace. As soon as we get back we'll be moving on. Could you help Sokka pack up camp?"

"If you eat the lembas, I'll give you my pirate shirt!" Caroline mumbled, still mostly asleep. With that said she rolled over and snuggled deeper into Sokka's sleeping bag so Katara couldn't see anything but the tip of her blonde ponytail.

Katara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Just like Sokka, great." She grumbled sarcastically, looking around the cave for her brother. As usual she found him still asleep by the fire, curled in an extra blanket they'd found in Appa's saddle. "Oh, why do I even bother? Come on Aang, they can survive without us for a few hours."

Aang nodded and the two of them crawled onto Appa's back and were off.

A little while later Caroline finally woke up fully. Despite the warmth that Sokka's sleeping bag offered, she crawled out of it and went to stoke the fire. She groaned as she moved for she felt like she'd done 2,000 sit-ups, run a marathon, and lifted a ton of weights. Thankfully nothing felt broken, so she ignored her sore muscles and stood up.

She was about to step outside into the fresh morning air when Sokka's voice sounded behind her. "Where are you going?" He asked. "And where are the others?"

Caroline jumped in surprise, cursed herself for doing so, groaning at the pain it caused. "I vaguely remember Katara saying something about the marketplace." She answered. She didn't turn around for she was blushing in embarrassment. "I was just going outside for some fresh air….um….want to join me?"

Sokka paused for a moment and Caroline was afraid that he'd say no. "Um, sure." He finally answered. He walked up beside the girl and suddenly noticed her height compared to his. They were roughly the same height, though Caroline may have been an inch or two taller. "Wow, you're quite tall, for a girl I mean."

"Uh, thanks." Caroline replied, unsure of what else to say.

Sokka continued to study her and she began to blush again. "You know? Katara's clothes don't seem to fit you very well." Sokka remarked. "If you're feeling up to a walk we could head down to the marketplace ourselves and find you something new."

"Sounds like fun!" Caroline smiled and followed Sokka down the steep pathway from the cave to the village. Though she wouldn't admit it to many people, her new companions least of all, she'd always had a certain fondness for the boy. Why, even in her current situation she couldn't help but stare at him and grin like an idiot. Spending time alone with him was going to be so wonderful!

"Uh, Lomi Ka?" Sokka inquired when they reached the bottom of the hill. He waved a hand in front of the girls face. "What are you staring at?"

"Oh, uh, nothing." Caroline said, stumbling over her words. She felt heat rising into her cheeks and quickly looked away. "Oh, look, we're nearly to the market! Let's go!"

She grabbed Sokka's arm before he could say another word and dragged him into the marketplace. They stopped into the first shop they found that sold clothing and began to browse around. They'd barely had time to look when they heard Katara's angry voice from behind them. "What are you two doing here? Sokka did you make her walk all the way down that hill? We don't even know if she's fully recovered yet, she's---."

"She's fine," Sokka finished much to his sister's annoyance. "And incase you haven't noticed, your clothes don't exactly fit her."

Katara looked at Caroline. The robe was far too tight on her and the pants were short, coming halfway up her shins. "Fine, buy her some clothes and then meet me and Aang at the fruit stand." She motioned to Aang and the two of them left Caroline and Sokka alone once again.

"What was that all about?" The shopkeeper asked Sokka.

"My sister has an attitude problem." Sokka replied. "Don't pay any attention to her."

The shopkeeper nodded and Sokka returned to helping Caroline pick out an outfit. Finally she chose out a blood red robe, the style quite similar to Katara's, and some bluish, gray pants. Sokka paid for the items and led Caroline from the shop. As she admired her new garments Sokka asked, "Hungry?"

Caroline paused as she realized just how hungry she really was and then nodded vigorously. Sokka led her to the fruit stand where they were supposed to meet Aang and Katara and bought them each a peach. She immediately ate the whole thing, the juice dripping down her chin. Smiling at Sokka's shocked expression; she wiped her face on her sleeve.

Sokka just stared at her in a stunned silence. Never before had he met someone who could rival his own speed at eating as this girl just had. Caroline just grinned in embarrassment and walked to where Katara and Aang were waiting on Appa.

As she approached Katara asked, "Did you two pack up camp like I asked?"

"You never asked!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Yes I did, I asked Lomi Ka."

"You did? I don't seem to remember that. I can remember hearing about the market, but after that…nothing." Caroline replied, standing up for Sokka.

Katara mumbled something to herself and turned her back on Caroline and her brother. Aang merely shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you two continue walking around for a while? Katara and I will handle the campsite."

"Thanks Aang!" Caroline cried. She grabbed Sokka's arm and pulled him off towards the forest. Aang climbed up onto Appa next to Katara who was still mumbling something about her infinitely annoying brother and his new friend, and they set off for the cave.

Once they were gone, Caroline and Sokka began to take a leisurely stroll through the woods. Sokka immediately began to look for nuts because both of them were beginning to get hungry again. As Caroline followed him around she let her mind wander as she always did. Before she knew it she had strayed off the path and wasn't sure which way to go to find Sokka.


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's yet another chapter! YAY!**

Chapter 4

**Zuko's Ship**

"Prince Zuko! You must control your temper. What has gotten into you?"

Zuko rolled his eyes and tried to push past his uncle but Iroh wouldn't let him. "Answer me! You're not going any where until you do."

"I'm just stressed out that's all. The fact that there is a woman on board and that I am responsible for whatever happens to her."

"You sure had a strange way of showing that you care. "

"She can't know that I care. No one can. They'll think I'm going soft."

"No one will think that you're going soft. You really hurt her you know. Go listen at the door. You're breaking her spirit Zuko!"

For the first time in quite a while Zuko felt truly ashamed of himself. Had he truly been breaking her spirit, or was that just something that his uncle was telling him to make him feel bad? He decided to do as his uncle had told him and listen at her door.

He pressed his ear to the cold metal door and was surprised at what he heard. This girl who had seemed so strong when she stood up him and now he could hear her crying. He though he heard her say something about him hating her. About now he was feeling very ashamed of himself.

He quietly opened the door and slipped inside. He saw her curled up on her side as much as the pain would permit.

She was sobbing and gasping so he couldn't make out all that she said. "He hates me…..why …stuck here. He'll probably throw me overboard…want…go home."

"Ahem."

She quickly began to compose herself. "So did you come to yell at me again," she sniffed.

"No," he said to her softly. "I came to apologize."

"You what?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"I am sorry for the way I acted toward you before. Can you forgive me?" He was surprisingly sincere. It greatly surprised Trina to hear these words coming out of Zuko's mouth, especially directed at her. After what happened earlier this was the last thing that she expected.

"Yes, I suppose that I could find it in my heart to forgive you," she said offering him a slight smile (not the most attractive one mind you because of her tear streaked face and red eyes.)

Zuko felt something stirring inside him but chose to ignore it. He surprised her greatly by returning the slight smile.

"Do you know what happened to my clothes? I need them back. Lomi Ka made me that shirt. I need to get it back."

"I don't know but I'll see what I can find out."

"Thank you."

"Now, sleep, I'm sure that you must be tired."

Trina nodded and closed her eyes. In a matter of seconds she was asleep. Zuko was surprised at how fast she was able to fall asleep. He left the room silently only to come face to face with his uncle.

"You were listening, weren't you?"

"Oh come now Prince Zuko. Do you really think-"

"Yes I really do think, Uncle! So what do you have to say you heard all that I know it?"

"To be perfectly honest I'm glad to hear that you apologized to her. In fact I'm proud of you. It takes a lot to admit when you were wrong." Iroh put his hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Go and rest Prince Zuko. You can't have gotten much sleep last night and if you are going to stay and watch her again tonight you'll need some rest before then."

Zuko nodded and made his way to his quarters. He went inside and locked the door. He slipped off his shirt and collapsed onto his bed in the corner. He held his head in his hands.

"I can't get her out of my head," he whispered to himself. '_She'll never see anything in me, all she'll ever see is the scar_,' he thought as he ran his hand over the rough skin of his scar. A tear came to his eye as he remembered the day that he got it, but he quickly pushed it out of his mind.

_-Why am I acting like this?_

_-You know perfectly well why you're acting like this._

_-No I don't._

_-Stop lying to yourself. You feel something for her._

_-NO! You said that not me._

_-But I am you. Face it there's something there._

_-No. There can't be._

_-And why not? Why can't there be anything between you?_

_-Because she'll never see me as anything other than a scarred jack ass after the things I said to her before._

_-Ahh but you saw the smile she gave you after you told you that you were sorry._

_-Stop it!_

_-Just think about it._

Zuko groaned at his own thoughts. He rolled over on his bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

**WITH** **CAROLINE**

"Sokka where are you?" Caroline called for about the millionth time. "You really need to come find me; I got turned around in here."

"Hey, where have you been? I've been looking all over for you Lomi Ka," Sokka said as he appeared out of some bushes.

"Apparently you can't look and listen at the same time."

"What? Why do you say that?"

"I was calling for you and you never even answered."

"Oh. Aang and Katara are probably getting worried. It's getting dark, we better get going." Caroline nodded.

They returned to the cave and were greeted with, "where have you been?"

"Lomi Ka and I got separated and I was looking for her."

"Oh. We didn't pack up the camp because we thought we might have to stay another day to look for you two. It's too late to pack it up now so I guess we'll be staying here again tonight," Katara said. "Before we leave tomorrow morning you go find us some food Sokka."

Sokka sighed because he knew he would get complaints about whatever he brought back.

* * *

So there you have successfully finished reading chapter 4. Now I already love ya for reading this but I'd love you even more if ya'll review it. Reviews make me want to do backflips!


	5. Chapter 5

_wow chapter 5 already? I need to start writing again. hopefully I'll have time to write more over break. Updades will probably get less and less frequent. I have finals this week and then I'll go home back to a stupid dial-up internet connection. (CUSRE YOU REDNECKVILLE!) I'm ok now, really._

**Chapter 5**

ZUKO'S SHIP

**dream**

_Zuko saw the girl, in a state worse than the one she was actually in. She was lying on the same cot in the infirmary, but she was bleeding, badly. He moved forward to go to her and the doctor caught his arm and whispered to him something like he didn't have much time to talk to her because she was fading fast. He moved quickly to her bed side and stroked her bruised cheek._

_"Zuko, I thought you didn't care." Her voice was so weak but it was laced through with resentment. "You didn't care before, why bother to care now?"_

_"No, I…" He realized that she had stopped breathing. _

_He heard her voice come to him in the air. "You let this happen; it's all your fault." _

_"NOOOO!"_

**end dream**

He woke up suddenly and realized that he had screamed out loud. He was covered in cold sweat and was breathing heavily. He heard someone knocking on his door.

His uncle's voice came from the other side. "Zuko are you alright? I heard you yell."

"I'm fine it was just a nightmare Uncle."

"Let me in Zuko."

He rose from his bed and unlocked the door for his uncle. He moved back to his bed and sat down heavily. He held his face in his hands and realized that he was shaking. Surely one dream hadn't shaken him that much.

"Was it the Agni Kai again?"

He looked up at Iroh, "No. It was the girl, she died," he said surprised at his own words. Confusion fitted his thoughts. How could he feel this way about a girl that he knew nothing about? "Why do I feel this way Uncle? I don't even know her."

"Perhaps not Prince Zuko but she is not unattractive and she's strong considering the condition she's in. I can see why you might feel something," Iroh told him. "She would probably produce strong children for you," he then added slyly.

"UNCLE! STOP!" Zuko's face had turned a brilliant shade on red.

"What?" He asked trying to sound innocent but only succeeded in making himself sound guilty.

"I've told you before that I don't want to hear that from you."

"Anyway you should probably go down there because you'll be watching her tonight."

"Why can't the doctor do it?"

"Because he's been with her almost all day and he needs to rest too. Look on the bright side, it give you at excuse to get out of music night. Just sit with her Zuko it won't kill you."

"If it gets me out of music night." Zuko rose from his bed and slipped his shirt back on. He left the room and proceeded below deck to the infirmary. When he stepped inside he was greeted by the doctor, who now had a black eye.

"What happened to you?"

"Turns out she's a restless sleeper and she lashed out in her sleep."

"She did that to you while she was sleeping?" Zuko was trying not to laugh at the situation.

"Yes, as much as I hate to admit it. I wouldn't recommend that you get to close while she's asleep or you'll end up down here with a broken nose, sir. Other than that she seems to be well on the way to recovery," he told Zuko as he left the room.

-_If she gave him a black eye while she's asleep then she's stronger than I thought. Maybe what Uncle said-_

_-When have you ever listened to Uncle when it came to women?_

_-There's a first time for everything I guess._

He looked down at the sleeping girl (he did keep his distance though). She was attractive but not exactly what could be called beautiful. She would be quite strong for a girl once she recovered. Zuko considered what his uncle had said.

She was beginning to move about in her sleep, but not too much when Zuko leaned closer. It was then that she lashed out. Zuko jumped back but not quickly enough to keep himself from getting hit. She hit him square in his left eye and he could already feel it starting to swell.

_Great now I have a black eye too. It'll probably swell shut. How am I going to explain this one?_

She was beginning to wake up after feeling her fist contact something. She opened her eyes slowly to find Zuko standing nearby with a hand over his left eye. She sat up and asked him "What happened to you?"

Her voice startled him slightly but he said angrily, "YOU happened to me!

"What did I do?"

"YOU HIT ME!" He raised his voice again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't even realize that I did it," Trina apologized. She scooted as far back on the cot as she dared without falling off it trying to get as far away form him as she could. Unshed tears began to shine in her eyed in fear of his temper.

He saw the tears in her eyes and got a brief image of himself with the same look in his eyes. He immediately calmed down and tried to calm her as well. "Please don't. I didn't really mean to frighten you. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Not even in retaliation?"

"Not even in retaliation," he said with a short laugh.

"Oh, well good I'm glad to hear that."

"I need to as you some questions," he said gently.

"Alright I'll answer what I can. What do you want to know?"

"Well you can start by telling me where you're from."

"Ummm……" _Oh great, I knew this moment would come I just hoped it wouldn't come so soon. How am I going to tell him I'm not from this world?_ "Well I'm not from around here that's for sure."

"That's rather vague don't you think?"

"Yeah I guess it is but that's because I don't know exactly what to say. It's very hard to explain Please don't ask me that. I'll tell you sometime later I promise but not now please. It hurts to think about it."

"Alright, but you have to tell me later." He of all people knew how much it hurt to be away from home.

_Dodged that bullet, for now at least._ "What else do you want to know?"

"How did you get on my ship? You fell with the lightning I assume, but why were you in it?"

"Yes, I did fall with the lightning, so that's how I got here. As to why I was inside the lightning, all I know is that there was a storm that Lomi Ka and I were in and she was going to go home and when I gave her a hug good bye we were struck. We were still holding onto each other when it felt like we were flying. We lost our grip on each other and the next thing I knew I was waking up here in a world of pain. I was in the lightning until I hit the deck I guess." She hung her head at the thought of her friend because she had no idea what had happened to her.

"The red lightning had two forks," Zuko thought out loud. "Maybe your friend was in the other one."

She looked up at him and asked eagerly, "do you really think so? Where did it strike?"

"On shore not too far from here."

"Can we go see if she's there? I need to find my friend."

"I was planning to stop at the next port anyway so we can restock and we can easily take the rhinos back to the spot while we're stopped."

A huge smile broke across her face, "when will we stop?"

"We should reach port at morning's first light." When he said that she was overcome with happiness and she threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. He felt his cheeks warm with a growing blush as he awkwardly returned the embrace.

When she finally let him go she realized what she had done and stared to apologize. "I'm sorry, I was just so-"

"Stop apologizing. You were happy about going to find your friend."

There was a moment when neither of them said anything and it was in that moment when Trina noticed the sounds of music. "What's that?"

"Music night."

"What's music night?"

"Uncle Iroh thought the men needed something to raise their spirits, so now we have music night. I'll have an entire crew worth of hangovers on board tomorrow. I hate it when I have to go because when I do I usually end up with one too," he said as he shook his head.

Trina giggled a little at the comment. "Surely they won't all get drunk."

"Oh there might be one or two that stay sober. Alright now you better try to get some sleep or I won't be able to convince the doctor to let you leave to look for your friend tomorrow."

"Alright." She settled herself down into the cot and got comfortable and was asleep very quickly. Zuko pulled over a chair and put it next to the cot and sat down. He felt drowsiness overcome him and he was soon asleep as well.

When morning came Iroh was the first one to enter the infirmary to see how the two teens had faired the night. He was glad to see both of them sleeping peacefully. He almost regretted having to wake Zuko to tell him that thy had docked, that is until he saw the unnatural purple color that Zuko's scar had become. Iroh shook Zuko's shoulder until he woke up.

"What is it?" Zuko only opened his right eye because the left one was still swelled shut.

"What happened to your eye?"

"She hit me in her sleep when I came in last night."

"She what?"

"She seems to be a restless sleeper, at times at least. She got the doctor too, only it was his right eye."

"Oh. We've docked so we can restock."

"Good. I need to talk to the doctor because I need to see if Tarrina is well enough to accompany us on shore. I told her we would look for her friend."

"What makes you think you'll be able to find her?"

"She was it the red lightning too and another fork of it struck on shore."

"You know if this Lomi Ka was in as bad shape as Tarrina, it might not be a very happy reunion. Without help she may have died by now Zuko if she was anywhere near as bad as Tarrina was."

"I know that but please don't remind me."

The doctor entered the room then allowing Zuko to escape from the subject of Lomi Ka. "Ah, just the man I wanted to see. Do you think Tarrina is well enough to come on shore with us? I told her we would look for her friend today."

"I don't see why not considering that force behind that fist of hers. Oh, Prince Zuko I see that you seem to have found that out for yourself. I warned you not to get too close while she was sleeping. I'll get you something to make the swelling go down."

He took a jar of salve out of the cabinet and handed it to Zuko. "Put some of that on it and the swelling should start to go down right away. It helped mine a lot." Zuko looked at the man's eye and saw that the swelling had indeed gone down and that it was already starting to heal.

Trina was starting to wake up when the doctor moved to her bedside. When she opened her eyes she saw all three of the men looking at her. "Well if it isn't my three favorite guys in the whole world," she said jokingly when she saw them. Iroh and the doctor both laughed but Zuko only smiled slightly.

"Prince Zuko tells us that he's planning on taking you out today. Before he can though I need to make sure you're healing properly. If you'll hold still this won't take long."

"I need to get things ready to go ashore," Zuko said as he and Iroh left the room. "Uncle, how many of the men are sober? I need a few men to come with Tarrina and me when we look for her friend."

"There might be two or three."

"Find them and tell them to ready rhinos for themselves and one for Tarrina and I."

"She'll be riding with you?"

"I very much doubt that she knows how to ride anyway I wouldn't let her ride on her own unless she was fully healed."

"I guess that makes sense, but it will take a little time for us to get them ready."

"Come find us when things are ready to go."

After discussing things with Iroh and changing his clothes, Zuko returned to Tarrina in the infirmary and found that she had been healing faster than anyone would have expected. The bandages had been taken off of her forearms and only minor scarring remained. The scars were very thin and branched like lightning bolts as they stretched between her elbows and fingertips. She was also able to move about without much pain.

"Looks like you're ready to go."

"Yup."

"It'll take a little time to get the rhinos ready so I thought we go to the market and look around until then. Would you like to?"

"Oh yes!"

"Prince Zuko don't let her overdo it. She still isn't completely well."

"I won't. Come on," Zuko said to Trina who nodded and followed closely behind him.

Trina noticed that when had had been gone for that short time he had changed into an outfit that was almost exactly like the one she was wearing (she still didn't know what had happened to her clothes). She followed his up on deck where he took her by the hand and led her off the ship.

"I don't want you to get separated form me. After all this is a strange place to you," Zuko said to her softly, and at that she gave him a warm smile and he couldn't keep himself from smiling back at her.

"I'm glad I have you to keep me out of trouble because it seems to find me."

Zuko led her through the market stopping occasionally to examine an item. They stopped when they came to a stand that was selling women's clothing.

"Pick something out. I can't have you wearing my clothes all the time." At the comment Trina blushed and the exchange did not go unnoticed by the vender who laughed a little. Zuko glared at him and he stopped laughing right away.

Trina picked out a blood red shirt with gold trim and a pair of darker red pants. "Your girlfriend has quite an eye for quality sir," the vender said when Zuko paid him.

Trina and Zuko looked at each other and started to answer at the same time, "We're not-." They looked at each other again and shared a nervous laugh for answering like they did.

"You know Missy you remind my of a girl who was here yesterday."

"Oh really?"

"Yes ma'am. Her hair was about the same color as yours, maybe a little darker. I remembered because I hadn't seen anyone with hair like that before, and now two people in two days. Small world huh?"

"Guess so," Trina said. "Sir could you tell me if you remember if her hair was shorter that mine?"

"Oh yeah quite a bit."

"Do you know what direction she went when she left?"

"She went off toward the woods with a girl and two boys who were younger than her."

"What did her companions look like?" Zuko asked the man.

"The girl and one boy wore blue and the other boy was a little bald monk guy."

"With a blue arrow on his head?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Let's just say we've met before." Zuko thanked the man for his help and started leading Trina back to the ship.

"It was Lomi Ka! I know it was!" Trina said happily.

"She's with the Avatar! " Zuko said (this fact made him quite enthuastic about going to find Trina's friend.)

"Who?" She asked, deciding that it was best to play dumb about it for the moment.

"I'll explain later. I hope Uncle Iroh has things ready to go when we get back to the ship."

Zuko was pleased that when they got back to the ship Iroh did indeed have things ready to go and he had found only one man who was sober to go with them.

Zuko pulled his uncle aside and said to him, "Tarrina's friend is with the Avatar. We found out when we stopped so she could get some new clothes." Zuko continued speaking to Iroh and told him what the merchant had told him.

"If this is true Prince Zuko, you must consider your actions very carefully, especially if you care for this girl."

"I know. It's a delicate situation. What will I do when I capture her friend's companions?"

"Perhaps before you do anything you should explain the whole 'Avatar' situation to her."

"How Uncle? Do you think I can make her understand?"

"Of course, you just need to explain things."

Zuko nodded. He hesitated slightly because he knew that to make her understand he would have to tell her about the Agni Kai. "Tarrina, come here a moment please."

"What is it Prince Zuko?"

"I told you before that I would explain to you who the Avatar is, and now is the time. The Avatar is the only thing that stands between the Fire Nation and total victory. He also stands between me and my homeland. I cannot return until I have captured him and present him to my father." His voice cracked slightly at the mention of his father. "I have been banished and stripped of my honor until I return having captured the Avatar."

Tarrina put her hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "You're worried about what I might say when you capture the people who were taking care of my friend."

"Yes," he looked away form her not knowing what to expect from her in response.

"Do what you have to do. Your honor is at stake and that is a very important thing."

Zuko looked at her again and from the look on his face he was clearly surprised by her response. "You really mean that don't you?"

"Yeah I guess I do. Anyway you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission… quest…thing," Trina said. She smiled at him trying to lift his mood.

Zuko smile at he for a few seconds as well. He was pleased that he had been able to avoid talking about the Agni Kai. "Alright, I guess we better get going then. Have you ever ridden a Komodo Rhino before?"

Trina shook her head. "No I haven't."

"You'll ride with me then."

He got on first and pulled her up after him. She sat in the saddle behind him. When the rhino started forward Trina gasped and laced her arms around Zuko's waist to keep herself from falling off. Both of the teens were quite pleased with the close proximity to each other, not that either one would let the other know that.

Iroh mounted another rhino and the other soldier mounted another one. They proceeded down the lowered ramp and went toward the woods that the vender had mentioned.

* * *

With Caroline 

Caroline was up exploring her surroundings. She was glad that she hadn't been injured too badly in the lightning strike and that she had been able to get some new clothes because the ones that Katara had let her wear were too small and her own clothes were in bad shape.

She knew that Sokka was somewhere nearby scowering for food. Probably all he would come up with would be nuts. Not the most appetizing meal in the world, but she ignored that fact because she didn't want to say anything to hurt poor Sokka's feelings

* * *

_Wow I never realized just how short the ending of this chapter was till just now. Oh well... bed time. gotta get up at 7:30 and it's already 1:30._

_Until next time..._


	6. A meeting

**OMFG! another chapter!** I'm not sure when my next update will be. I had to take a break from studying for finals so I decided to post this now.

**Chapter 6**

**With Trina**

The rhinos crashed through the brush in the forest on the almost non existent path. "This is making too much noise. No one in their right mind would just come out of the bushes; it'd be like asking to be captured."

With that Sokka stumbled out of the underbrush right in front of Zuko's leading rhino. When Sokka saw the fire benders he screamed and raced back into the bushes the way he had came.

"Follow him!" Zuko shouted at the soldier with them. He then slid down for his rhino and helped Trina down too. "Come on; if we follow him he'll probably lead us to your friend and the Avatar. Uncle watch the rhinos while we're gone." And at that he disappeared into the bushes himself.

"Wait for me. I can't move that fast yet!" Trina called after Zuko before heading in herself.

Sokka tore through the forest trying desperately trying to escape the pursuing fire benders. "Help! Someone, help me!" He screamed. He entered the clearing that Caroline was in. He saw her and quickly jumped behind her. "Hide me, hide me, hide me, hide me!" He said quickly as he cowered on his knees behind her.

The pursuing soldier burst from the bushes looking for Sokka. Caroline knew it was time to put her newfound bending skills to the test. She gathered water from a nearby puddle and made an incredibly hot fire in her other hand. The intensity of the fire had the water boiling in a matter of seconds. By that time the fire bender was coming at them so Caroline threw the boiling water at the man. When it hit him he screamed and fell backward through the bushes and only his feet were showing.

Zuko and Trina heard the man scream as they neared the clearing. "Stay behind me," Zuko said to Trina not knowing what to expect in the clearing. Trina on the other hand had a sneaking suspicion that the scream had something to do with her friend. The whole situation was so similar to a dream that Caroline had told her about.

Zuko pushed through the bushes and saw the girl protecting the water tribe peasant and he could have almost laughed at the situation. Trina came through the bushes behind him and saw the scene before her. She recognize the girl standing before them immediately.

"TARRINA!"

"LOMI KA!"

They leapt at each other out of the great joy of seeing each other again. They wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Zuko and Sokka were both shocked at the sudden display of insanity. Both of them were too surprised to do any thing other that blink for a few moments. Sokka wore a pricelessly shocked facial expression while Zuko simply cocked his eyebrow.

Trina gasped because of the sudden pressure on her broken ribs. Trina's gasp snapped Zuko out of his daze. "Ease up a little on those ribs!" He said not really wanting to ruin the moment that the two friends were sharing but he didn't want to see Trina's condition backslide either.

The two girls pulled away for each other for a moment and looked at him. Trina snorted smoke at him before turning back to Caroline. "What's he talking about Tarrina? "

"It's nothing, just a couple of broken ribs. "

"Broken ribs! "

"I said it was nothing, by the way **BOOYA**! For those mad bending skills," she said looking at Caroline. Then a wild look then came into her eyes.

Caroline recognized the look in Trina's eyes. "Oh no! Don't do it! Especially if you're hurt! You know what happened last time."

Trina would have no part of this advice. She leapt at Caroline and screamed "**TICKLE**!"

"NO! AHHHHHHHH!" But it was too late because Trina was already on top of her tickling her mercilessly. Both of the girls were laughing wildly and the two boys who were watching couldn't help but laugh too, although Sokka was still much my confused than Zuko. Caroline finally managed to grab Trina's wrists and tried to throw her off, but Trina would have no part of it and tried to continue tickling. Caroline tightened her grip and called to Sokka for some help.

"Hey now you get off her now….fire bender." Sokka said not knowing what else to call the newcomer (in his surprise he had forgotten what Caroline had called her). He had spat the word fire bender and Trina turned to him with anger in her eyes.

"Do you have a problem?" Trina rose and started to walk toward Sokka, doing her best impression of the "scary Fire Lord walk" as she liked to call it.

Zuko recognized her body language immediately (wonder why) and moved to grab her arm. "Don't hurt him. He's just a sap anyway."

"Hey, I am not."

At that Trina burst into hysterics again. "Yes you are!" She managed. All laughing was making her ribs hurt, a lot, and the pain was starting to show on face. She was starting to have trouble breathing (of course that always happened every time she had a laugh attack, but not for the same reason this time).

Zuko noticed her trouble and moved to her side. "Are you alright?" She nodded. "If I bring you back to the ship in worse shape than you were in when you left the doctor will kill me. Just calm down, ok."

She nodded again and sat down on a nearby rock, trying to catch her breath. When she had caught it she said, "It's so good to see you Lomi Ka. I didn't know what had happened to you, but it seems you found a protector too." She winked at Caroline.

"Yeah can you believe we both ended up with such strong handsome men?" (Ah thus are the thoughts of a fan girl.) Sokka puffed out his chest in pride at being called strong and handsome. Zuko shook his head at the thought that anyone would think that the water tribe peasant was either or much less both of those things.

"So who's this…..boy?" Trina referred to Sokka, knowing perfectly well who he was but she was making a point but using the same tone Sokka had used when he called her 'fire bender.'

"My name is Sokka and I'm sorry for that way I addressed you before. It's just that you're with him," he motioned to Zuko with his head.

"Hey you leave him alone!" Trina rose quickly to her feet only to nearly fall again.

"Not so fast, you'll hurt yourself," Zuko said as he steadied her.

"I just stood up too fast that's all."

Sokka saw Zuko's moment of distraction as an opening to escape form this uncomfortable situation. He grabbed Caroline's arm and with her in tow he bolted into the woods.

"Hey wait, I wasn't done talking to her yet." Trina yelled at Sokka.

"Wait! Sokka!" Caroline cried as they ran through the forest. "Go back! I wasn't done talking!"

Sokka pretended not to hear and kept running. He wanted to get as far away from Prince Zuko as he could. Caroline became annoyed that he was ignoring her and tried to stop. She dug her heels into the ground trying to slow Sokka down, but in the process, caught her foot on a root. She tripped, tumbling both herself and Sokka to the ground.

As they both collapsed in a heap, Caroline landed slightly on top of Sokka. The fall had disoriented her and by the time she realized her position Sokka was blushing fiercely. Caroline jumped back, blushing herself. She turned away from Sokka and neither of them spoke for quite a few moments.

When Sokka finally broke the silence, Caroline was pleased to hear that it had nothing to do with what had just happened. "Sorry about back there," He apologized, referring to their incident with Zuko and Trina only minutes before. "I didn't feel safe around that many fire benders."

"What do you have against fire benders anyway?" Caroline asked becoming slightly offended because she was a bit of one herself.

"Fire Nation attacked my village and killed my mother." Sokka returned.

"But that doesn't make all fire benders evil. Look at me; I'm half fire nation, does that mean you don't like me either?"

"No, that's not what I meant at all! You're a great person, that's different."

"Not all that much." Caroline said. "My friend Tri—Tarrina, is a fire bender as well, and she would never hurt anyone the way the men that attacked your village did. I'm sure if you just got to know a few fire benders you'd realize that they're not all that different from you and me."

"I guess you're right." Sokka admitted. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Caroline replied, finally turning to smile at him.

Sokka smiled back.

* * *

Zuko was torn between following them to the Avatar and staying with Trina. He decided that without help there was little chance of catching the Avatar anyway so he stayed with Trina. "I guess we should head back," he said with a sigh 

"What about him?" Trina motioned to the still unconscious soldier.

"We'll have to make him wake up because I'm not carrying him."

Zuko slapped the man several time until he started to stir, careful to avoid the blisters that were forming on the men exposed skin because of the boiling water. "Get up. Let's go."

He moaned as he rose but started to walk back to the rhinos with them. When they got back to where Iroh was waiting he immediately asked them what happened.

"Well it seems that Tarrina's friend Lomi Ka can bend both fire and water."

"Oh really? Most unusual."

"Lomi Ka would be seriously amused if she heard you say that." Trina laughed.

"So I take it you didn't get the Avatar."

"Do you see him anywhere? No!"

"Don't worry you'll find them again. I know it," Trina smiled up at Zuko. The smile lifted his spirits some and he decided that they'd better head back to the ship.

"Let's go. Tarrina do you want to learn how to control a rhino?"

"Oh yes!"

"Then come here," he motioned for her to come to him. He helped her into the saddle and mounted the beast behind her. She blushed at his closeness. He put the reigns in her hands and guided her hands with his own. Trina was blushing even more when she felt his strong hands over hers.

Zuko gently guided her hands and instructed her softly. "Do you want to take over for a while?"

"No." She still hadn't built up the confidence to want to try.

"Oh go ahead. If something happens I'll be right here."

He removed his hands from hers and she was surprised when the beast responded to her commands. She was just beginning to feel confident the rhino started to act out. Before she knew it the reigns had been jerked out of her hands and she and Zuko were both thrown from the saddle. When they hit the ground she found herself sitting in Zuko's lap. Both of them blushed and got up.

"Are you two alright?" Iroh's voice came form behind them.

"Yes I suppose so," Zuko said simply.

"I thought you were going to step in before that happened." He simply snorted smoke.

He grabbed the reigns and helped Trina back into the saddle before remounting the creature himself. Zuko kept the reigns himself this time.

He felt Trina start to sway slightly in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just a little dizzy. From falling off I guess."

He took the reigns in one hand and put the other around her middle so there was no chance of her falling off. To his surprise he felt her hands over his own. He then felt her lean back against his chest and sigh.

"This is much better," she whispered.

* * *

**BACK WITH CAROLINE**

"Oh, I was wondering, what was with that huge tickle fight back there?" Sokka asked.

Caroline's smile widened. "Tarrina likes to use that to torture me. She knows that I'm terribly ticklish. I think she just likes to hear me scream all high pitched and super girly."

Sokka laughed at her words and allowed a mischievous expression to cross his face. "So, you're terribly ticklish, eh?" He reached towards her and smirked.

"Oh, no! Sokka, not you too!" Caroline moaned. "Please, no…"

It was too late. Sokka's hand was already tickling her side and she began to shriek and giggle uncontrollably. Sokka, like Trina found this incredibly amusing and refused to stop. Caroline grabbed Sokka's hands, trying to push them away. She didn't try to hard though, for she rather enjoyed the close proximity, though she wouldn't admit it.

Finally when they were both laughing so hard that their eyes were watering and their sides hurt, the tickling ceased. The two teenagers collapsed on the ground side by side and tried to catch their breath.

"That was fun!" Caroline said between breaths.

Sokka agreed, and laughed some more. When they'd both finally calmed down Sokka realized that it was getting late. "We should be heading back to the camp. Aang and Katara will be wanting to leave, and I already know that Katara will be fuming at me!"

He stood and then helped Caroline to her feet. They walked quite close together as they wandered out of the forest and back towards the cave. They were nearly there when Caroline stumbled slightly and bumped into Sokka.

"Ow!" She mumbled to herself.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. My knee just locked, that was all. It does it all the time."

"Are you sure?" Sokka observed that she gave her one knee less pressure as she walked. "You're limping."

"I'm fine, really."

Sokka didn't seem to agree. He paused and gathered her up into his strong arms. Caroline was speechless for a few moments.

"You don't have to carry me…" She said finally. "I can walk."

"No sense to strain yourself," Sokka replied, refusing to put her down. Caroline could think of no response so she just sighed deeply and rested her head on Sokka's shoulder. Without even meaning to, she fell asleep.

* * *

Well that's all for now.

R&R PLEEZE

so anywayuntil next time...


	7. Chapter 7

OK so another chapter finally! Sorry I haven't updated sooner but I haven't had any time. Zuko seems to be getting a bit OOC but I'm working on a way to fix that.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Trina/Tarrina and Seeker of the Charter owns Caroline/Lomi Ka.

Well on with the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 7

BACK WITH TRINA

The rest of the trip back to the ship was uneventful except for the fact that Trina had fallen asleep against Zuko's chest listening to the sound of his heartbeat. _(AN: I really can sleep anywhere)_ She was still asleep when they made way up the ramp back onto the ship. As soon as they were on board the ship left port.

"Hey," Zuko whispered, shaking Trina slightly. She slowly opened his eyes. "We're back. Come on I'll help you down." He really didn't want this closeness to end but he knew that it had to.

Once he was out of the saddle he helped her down. She flinched slightly when her took her wrists. Zuko was surprised to see large purple bruises forming. "When did you get those?"

"In my tickle fight with Lomi Ka. She warned me. That's what she meant when she reminded me what happened last time."

He shook his head. "You know I don't think I've ever seen a better display of insanity."

"You ain't seen nothing' yet, believe me," she said with a huge Aang like grin.

"Let go make sure that you haven't reinjured your self too much," he said as they started toward the infirmary. He beckoned to the soldier who had accompanied them to come with them as well. When they entered the infirmary the doctor was surprised at the state of them (especially the blistered soldier). Trina being bruised and looking rather disheveled and Zuko was still a bit dusty from when they fell from the rhino.

"What happened?"

Zuko told the man what had happened. The doctor shook his head in disbelief. "You should be taking it easy Tarrina. You could have put one of those ribs right through one of your lungs then you'd have been in a world of trouble wouldn't you?"

"Yes sir," she hung her head and sounded rather downtrodden.

"Well you don't seem to have injured yourself any more than a few bruises. And I believe that you're well on your way to full recovery so I see no need for you to continue to stay in the infirmary."

"Really?" The doctor simply nodded. "But where will I stay now?"

None of them had really thought about it until that moment. They knew that they couldn't leave her anywhere by herself for fear one of the less trustworthy crew members might try something. The matter was thought about for a few moments then eyes once again turned to Zuko.

"What?" They continued to stare at him. "Again? You've got to be kidding me." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Come on Tarrina, looks like you'll be staying with me."

On the outside Trina cocked an eyebrow but on the inside her heart leapt. She was going to stay with Zuko. She had to work hard no to 'squeee' and twirl around the floor right there. "Yes Prince Zuko," she said as meekly as she could manage at that moment. "Oh wait; I still know what happened to my clothes."

"Oh I have them here," the doctor said. "I've had them cleaned for you."

"Yes! Ok I'm ready to go now," she said, now holding her old clothes, smiling brightly. He led her out of the infirmary and through a series of hallways that eventually led them out onto the deck of the ship. She was surprised to see that it was already getting dark, for she hadn't realized that it was indeed that late. He led her across the deck and through another metal door and even more hallways. Finally Zuko stopped and opened a door and motioned for her to enter.

She looked around the room and said, "So, grade a, five star accommodations I see." Zuko looked a bit confused at her comment. "Um, never mind." She didn't want to explain. "Only one bed I see. I'll sleep on the floor, I'm good at that." _(AN: I like cement floors but metal is good too.)_

"You'll do no such thing. It's a big bed," he hesitated before he continued; "there's enough room for both of us."

Trina's eyes widened a little. If she had been drinking something she would have done a spit take. She had never expected this from Zuko (but it was what she had hoped for). "What? Are you sure?"

"Well seeing as there's nowhere else for you to stay, we're going to have to deal with this situation."

"Ok then I guess so, but you have to promise to stay on your side."

"I promise. Well I have some things to attend to. Stay here and don't leave this room unless you are accompanied by either my uncle or me." She nodded her agreement with him.

He left the room and as soon as she was sure he wouldn't come back into the room she decided to put her own clothes back on. It would look a bit conspicuous if she were to wear they about during the day and they were comfortable enough to sleep in so she decided if nothing else she would use those clothes as pajamas. Once she had put her old clothes back on she sat down on the bed. It was at that point that she realized just how tired she still was from the day's events. She lay down on one side of the bed and was almost immediately asleep.

* * *

WITH CAROLINE

"Where have you two been?" Katara shouted as Sokka entered the cave with Caroline in his arms. "We should have left hours ago!"

"Shhhh!" Was Sokka's only response. He climbed into Appa's saddle and gently laid Caroline down. Sitting beside her sleeping form he whispered to the others. "Well, we're ready to go now, so what are you waiting for?"

Katara glared at her brother, but said nothing. Instead she followed Aang to Appa's head to sit as far away from Sokka as she could.

"Yip yip!" Aang called and the flying bison flew into the air.

Caroline slept rather soundly as they flew along, murmuring in her sleep only once or twice. Sokka remained by her side all night, not wanting her to wake up and fall off Appa when she realized that they were flying. He watched her as she slept despite the fact that he'd told himself not to.

He couldn't help himself. The girl looked so beautiful with her fair, smooth skin reflecting the moonlight and her lips curled upwards in a delicate smile. He wondered what she was dreaming about. _No, stop thinking of her that way!_ He mentally scolded himself. _Surely she'd be offended if she knew what I was thinking about her!_

Sokka had just managed to tear his gaze away when Caroline moved beside him. Though she was still asleep her hand groped about as if searching for something. Because Sokka was sitting so close beside her, the first thing she managed to find was his hand. She grabbed it immediately and hugged it against her chest.

Sokka blushed and tried to pull his hand away, but Caroline held it fast. Whatever she thought it was in her dream world, it was obviously important to her. Eventually Sokka ignored it and began to think up good excuses he could use if Aang or Katara came back and saw them like this.

He needn't have worried. Neither of them even looked back there the whole time Caroline was asleep. When she finally did wake up it was because she was shivering. She didn't even notice that she was holding Sokka's hand and he didn't care to mention it to her.

"Are you cold?" He asked quietly. She nodded sleepily. Using his free hand, Sokka reached into one of their bags and pulled out his winter coat. "Put this on," He suggested. "It will keep you warm."

"Thanks," She replied, finally releasing his hand to take the jacket. "Aren't you cold too?"

"No. You see, I grew up in the South Pole. This weather is extremely warm to me. You obviously grew up someplace much warmer."

Caroline nodded and slipped the jacket over her head. It was delightfully warm and smelled sweetly of Sokka. She snuggled deep within it, smiled softly and breathed deep the scent. Sokka looked at her strangely.

"Why did you do that?" He asked curiously.

Caroline was caught off guard by the question and stumbled over her answer. "Oh, ah, well, it's just a nice cozy jacket, that's all." She replied, knowing as soon as the words left her mouth how stupid they sounded.

Sokka seemed not to notice and if he did it didn't show. Both he and Caroline remained silent for some time and Caroline began to fall asleep again. Suddenly Sokka began to cough violently.

"Sokka, are you alright?" Caroline cried, sitting upright.

"I'm fine. I just, uh, inhaled a bug." Sokka replied calmly. "See, all bett---." He went into another fit of coughing and Caroline became concerned. She lifted her hand to his forehead.

"You're burning up!" She cried. "You most certainly aren't well!"

She crawled to the edge of the saddle and called to Aang and Katara. "Sokka's fallen ill! We need to find shelter!"

* * *

well there ya'll go. I'm off to do something else now.

Remember I love reviews! they make me want to do backflips and backflips are fun so R&R!


	8. Chapter 8

Well Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everybody!

I wiah this chapter was longer but, oh well. I'll try to post another one later no promises though.

* * *

Chapter 8

ZUKO'S SHIP

Zuko stood by the rail of the ship looking out at the ocean. He was trying to figure out just what his feelings toward the girl were.

"I hear that Tarrina has taken up residence in your room." Zuko was startled by the sound of his uncle's voice.

"Yes. I didn't know what else to do."

"You did the right thing I believe, Prince Zuko. I can see that you care for her very much and I think she may feel the same way about you. And perhaps you two could end up-"

"Don't start that. She doesn't like me Uncle."

"You must be blind not to see it. Trust your wise old uncle, she likes you, she might even love you. I can tell by the way that you act around her that you love her."

"You're crazy," Zuko said softly not really wanting to deny his feelings, but he was trying to anyway.

"You can't lie to me Zuko, I know you too well."

"Alright I won't deny it but I still don't think that she feels that way about me."

"Go to bed Zuko. Sleep on it then tell me what you think in the morning." Zuko nodded and returned to his room where he found Trina sound asleep on one side of the bed. He smiled down at her then he lay down on the other side of the bed so they were facing away from each other and pulled a light blanket over both of them. He was asleep soon after he lay down.

* * *

WITH CAROLINE

By the next day, Katara had also fallen ill. Aang went out on his own to find a cure, leaving Caroline to care for the two of them. Momo tried to help, but couldn't understand anything anyone asked him. Finally Caroline gave up trying to talk to the lemur and went out to search for water by herself.

When she returned it was apparent that Momo had been busy. The room was full of all sorts of odds and ends. Caroline just sighed and put some water on for tea. Momo flew over and landed on her shoulder, purring in her ear. "Don't worry, Momo. Aang will be back soon." She said, stroking the lemur gently.

Behind them Appa groaned softly and Sokka burst into a fit of laughter. "That was great!" He chuckled. "C'mon, tell me another one!"

Caroline shook her head and returned her focus to making the tea. She'd never really been good at it, but recently she'd been taking lessons from a friend. Hoping that it would turn out all right, she took the water off, found a few cups in the mess of stuff Momo'd found, and poured the tea.

She took some to Sokka first because he'd been sick longer. Gently she pushed the cup to his lips and he sipped at the tea. He didn't spit it out, which was a good sign, but then again, Caroline knew that Sokka would eat or drink almost anything. It must not have been too terrible though, because Sokka drank the whole cup.

When he was done, he paused and looked up at her. "You're pretty," He said. "Do I know you?"

Caroline knew that it was his fever talking and she simply smiled. "I am Lomi Ka." She replied calmly.

"Lomi Ka…." He repeated dreamily. "That's a nice name."

Even though Caroline knew he wasn't quite himself, she blushed and hurried to get Katara some tea. She also drank the entire cup, which led Caroline to believe that it might actually taste Ok. She tried some and to her surprise it was quite tasty. At that point she decided to go and get some more water for the tea before night fell.

She returned quickly and found everything as she'd left it. _Good,_ She thought, yawning widely. _Now I can get some rest myself. _With that in mind she snuggled against Appa's soft fur near Sokka and Katara and went to sleep.

* * *

So thanks for reading ya'll. remember to review please! 


	9. In which there is Zhao

wow it has been so long since I updated this. I changed this chapter a tiny bit from what it was before. Its only like 3 lines soif you already ready read it before you really don't have to read it again if you don't want to. ok I guess I'm done rambeling for now.

* * *

Chapter 9

ZUKO'S SHIP

Zuko was awakened in the middle of the night by movement. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see that the movement that had woke him was Trina who had rolled into his arms. '_I must have rolled over too for us to be in this position,'_ he thought Zuko briefly considered pushing her back to her side of the bed but her quickly decided that he enjoyed this feeling far too much for it to end so soon (despite the promise he had made to stay away). He was soon asleep again.

Zuko was unaware that they were being watched. Iroh had slipped into the room unnoticed while the two were sleeping. He smiled at the scene before him. It only further validated the fact that they were indeed attracted to each other. Having seen what he wanted to see he slipped silently form the room.

It the morning Iroh knocked softly on Zuko's door, when no one answered he decided to let the two teens sleep. It was about noon before either of them started to stir. Trina started to wake first and felt herself wrapped in pleasant warmth and there was some sort of weight around her waist. She opened her eyes so she could discern the source of the warmth and weight and found herself staring at Zuko's still sleeping face. She realized that the weight must have been Zuko's arm and that he must wrapped it around her in the middle of the night. She knew she should do something to make him more but she really didn't want to. He looked so peaceful she hated to disturb him plus it felt good to just lay there against his bare chest.

Zuko was just starting to wake up, so Trina pretended to still be asleep (which she was quite good at mad college skills yo). When he made no move to let her go she opened her eyes. She found herself staring into his golden eyes, and they were uncomfortably close. She blushed and rolled away from him. "I thought you said you would stay on the other side of the bed."

It was his turn to blush now. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that I had moved," he said stubbornly. He knew it was a lie but she didn't. "So did you sleep well?" He asked cautiously, afraid that she would tell him to stay away from her.

"Quite well thank you, especially with a big, strong fire bender to protect me." In a way the logical side of her couldn't believe that she was lying in Zuko's bed flirting with him, but the fan girl side of her certainly could.

He pulled her back into his arms and smiled. She smiled back at him. Trina felt her heart pounding in her chest because she had never experienced closeness like this with anyone of the opposite sex. Heck, she had never even had a boy friend. She decided that she liked this feeling very much. The moment was spoiled however by loud knocking on the door.

"Prince Zuko it's nearly noon don't you think you should get up?" Before either of them had a chance to move Iroh opened the door. He immediately saw the position the two were in and asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," they said together a bit too quickly only managing to sound guilty.

"You're sure now? Because I can come back later if you want to-"

"Don't say it." Zuko growled.

Trina moved out of Zuko's arms and went to the other side of the room. She realized what Iroh was about to say and needed to move because she couldn't stand being so close to Zuko and thinking about what Iroh almost said.

"I'm coming Uncle." Zuko was still growling as he put on his shirt and his armor and left the room.

"You see I told you that she likes you." Zuko could have hit Iroh then but he restrained himself. "I can tell that you care for each other, that was clear when I entered your room last night."

"YOU WHAT!"

"I snuck into your room and saw her asleep in your arms, and then after what I saw this morning I'd have to be a fool not to see that she might just love you."

"Uncle that's crazy," he was trying to deny it but why he tried he didn't know because what his uncle was saying was exactly what he wanted to hear.

"No it's not stop denying it. You love her too don't you?"

"I…I don't know."

"Yes you do. I can tell. You can't hide it from me and you shouldn't hide it from her. Tell her."

"I can't."

"Why not Prince Zuko? Don't tell me that the great prince of the Fire Nation is afraid of his own feelings."

"I just can't!"

"Don't make me tell her for you."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?"

"Alright fine, I'll tell her later."

The day passed uneventfully. Trina and Zuko spent lunch together and much to Iroh's disappointment they didn't speak to each other. It was soon evening (the day goes by fast when you don't get up until noon) and Zuko returned to the room he was sharing with Trina. He paused at the door trying to gather the strength to tell her how he felt. When he opened the door and entered the room he found her to be asleep. _A whole lot of worry for this?_

He decided to meditate. He sat cross legged in front to his dragon shrine and lit the candles with his bending. He concentrated on willing the small flames and soon because of the size he was making the flames grow to the room was becoming quite warm. Zuko stripped himself of his armor but was still uncomfortably warm so he took off his shirt as well. He continued meditating and didn't notice that the girl was waking up.

Trina woke up slowly because of the change in temperature in the room. She opened her eyes and saw Zuko of the other side of the room. She yawned and asked, "Prince Zuko, what are you doing? Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

He was startled by the voice and he extinguished the candles. "I was meditating and I took off my shirt because I got hot."

"It is hot in here I guess, but I thought you were always hot." As soon as the words left her she clasped a hand over her mouth because she couldn't believe she just said that out loud.

"What do you mean?"

She head slapped herself. _Me and my big mouth._ "Awwww man." She couldn't see any other way out of this one other than telling him the truth. "OK look, I can't believe I just said that out loud but here's the deal, where I come from "hot" can mean a lot of things, but what I mean is that you're very good looking." Her cheeks were flushed bright red because she couldn't believe she had just explained "hot" to Prince Zuko of all people.

"Oh. Do you really think that?"

"Why would I have said it if I didn't mean it?" Her face grew even warmer.

"In a way you just made what I need to tell you a lot easier for me."

"Glad I could be of service," she said sullenly. "So what do you need to tell me?"

"I wasn't really sure how to say this but now I see that you feel the same way about you as you do about me." Zuko looked at her and saw that her features were filled with confusion. "I think that you're 'hot' as you so eloquently put it"

"Hey now lets not get too carried away now. I wouldn't go that far." _Did he really just say that I'm hot?_

"But I would. You are a very pretty girl." _Guess so_. Zuko could feel the blush burning in his face. He looked at Trina, who's own face was currently burning with a growing blush as well. "Surely this is not the first time that you've ever heard that."

"Actually… it is," she cast her eyes down at the floor. At this point she was willing to look anywhere but at Zuko.

"What? You can't be serious?"

"Do you think I would lie to you about what guys think about that way I look when it's that bad?" She was looking at him again only this time she was glaring daggers at him.

"I well…um…." He stumbled over what to say. "Now don't get yourself all riled up, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I didn't mean to offend you."

Her anger deminished almost immediately and she spoke, "I'm sorry about my short temper. It often gets the best of me."

'_Sounds a little familiar' _he thought to himself. "I'm not really sure how to say this…I really don't know what else to say right now other than maybe," he hesitated a moment, "I think I might love you." He turned away when she didn't say anything, thinking that it was rejection. His face was hot and he knew that he must have been red with embarrassment.

Now Trina's moment of silence was not rejection (definitely not rejection), she was simply too surprised to say anything for a moment. She noticed that he had turned away. She stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "Prince Zuko," she started, he braced himself for the verbal rejection he thought was coming, "I think I love you as well."

Zuko turned around to face her. A large smile was now plastered across his face. She smiled back at him. He took her in his arms and they simply stood there for a while holding each other. Zuko savored her presence for he hadn't felt this happy since before he was banished. He liked the way it felt when her smaller frame was pressed against his.

He decided if there was ever a time to make a move this was it he lifted her chin with a gentle finger and leaned in to kiss her and-

"Prince Zuko you're needed on deck," Iroh burst through the door. The two released each other and glared angrily at him. Iroh realized that he had interrupted something rather personal. "Oh my, I am sorry."

"Not as sorry as you will be if you don't leave right now!" Trina shouted, flames were beginning to blossom from her fists. Zuko put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Why am I needed?"

"There is another ship approaching fast. Admiral Zhao's ship."

"What?" Zuko quickly pulled his shirt back on and put his armor back on. He didn't know what Zhao wanted but odds were it wasn't simply a social call. "Tarrina no matter what stay here until I come back. This man is bad news; I don't want something to happen to you,"

Trina nodded, she knew exactly what Zhao was, (but we won't say what she thinks about him in order to keep it kid friendly). They held each other for a brief moment again before Zuko silently left the room and locked the door behind him.

He moved out onto the deck and was surprised to see the Zhao was already there waiting for him.

"Ah Prince Zuko so nice of you to join us. Just who I wanted to see."

"What do you want?"

"Answers. The Avatar was in my custody but a certain blue masked individual helped him escape. Any chance you know who it was behind that mask?"

"No Zhao I don't. I'm glad to see this has been a waste of my time."

"For some reason I don't quite believe you. Search the ship men."

"Admiral Zhao you have no right to do this!"

"On the contrary Prince Zuko, you are a suspect for this crime so I can do whatever I please."

"You won't find anything."

"We'll just see," Zhao said smirking at Zuko.

Zhao's men were very through in their search, starting in the lower levels of the ship and working their way up. When they eventually made their way to Zuko's room they forced the door open and they were surprised to see a girl sitting on the bed. They sneered when they saw the fear in her eyes. Two of the men grabbed her, one on each arm, and dragged her out of the room.

"NO! STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE! TAKE YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME! FUCK OFF!" This only encouraged the men to be more rough with her.

"Admiral Zhao it seems that we've found something," one of the men said as they hauled Trina out onto the deck. It was no easy task because of how forcefully she was trying to fight back all the while snarling at them like a caged predator.

"Yes it seems that you have."

Zuko moved to put himself between Zhao and Trina but Iroh grabbed his arm. "Let us see how she handles this."

"But Uncle-"

"Look at her. There is no fear of him in her eyes."

Trina had stopped struggling and was simply glaring at Zhao, who was starting to circle her as if he was inspecting her. "You are quite a find." She growled at him. "Now, now have you any reason for that?"

"Let's think about that one for a minute… oh yeah your men just brutally yanked me for my room, I don't have any reason to be mad." Trina stuck her tongue out at him and mumbled "Bastard."

He struck her across the side of her face and grabbed her by the chin. "Now there's no reason for that." He sneared saying, "I think I just might take you with me."

She moved suddenly, jerking her chin out of his hand and before he had a chance to move she bit down on his fingers as hard as she could. Zhao pulled him hand back quickly, but not quick enough to avoid a bloody hand. He winced slightly.

Trina spit his blood out of her mouth and said sarcastically, "oh you poor thing."

"Now I think you can step in Zuko."

Zhao moved to hit her with his uninjured hand but Zuko caught his arm. "Don't," Zuko said icily.

"I see you've found yourself a treacherous little snake, Zuko." Zhao spat, he was now holding his injured hand.

"I am a bit bitey and you've got red on you." She said in an English accent, in a reference to Shaun of the Dead (not that any one but her got it). Zhao glared at her but at that point she was rather pleased with herself.

"Leave. Now." Zuko said shortly. Zhao stood there for a moment longer. "OFF MY SHIP!" Zuko shouted.

Zhao boarded his own ship and called for his me to follow him. "Leave the girl, she'll only be trouble."

As soon as she was free and stood safely next to Zuko, she called after Zhao, "you never know what diseases I might be carrying so you might want to get that checked."

He heard her but decided to ignore the comment. Instead he said, "don't worry we'll finish this later when you don't have that traitorous prince to protect you."

When the ship started to sail away Zuko turned back to Trina. "Are you insane?"

"M-maybe…" she said shakily. Zhao's last comment had shaken her badly.

"You'll be alright. I won't let him hurt you. I'm right here. I'll never leave you," Zuko said softly.

She threw her arms around his neck as silent tears slid down her cheeks. "Come on, lets go back to bed," he whispered. He felt her nod against his shoulder. He picked her up gently and carried her to their room. He had Iroh open the door so he wouldn't have to put her down until they were inside the room.

As he stepped into the room he bid his uncle goodnight and kicked the door closed. He was surprised to see that Zhao's men hadn't torn the room apart. '_They must have left as soon as they found Tarrina.'_ He felt terrible for having left her in the room by herself. He laid her down on the bed took off his armor and shirt and lay down beside her.

"I swear to you as long as there is breath in me I'll never let him touch you again. I'm sorry that this happened." He could see a darkening bruise on her face where Zhao had hit her.

"Zuko, just hold me. I don't want to think about him anymore." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"I'll do you one better," he said as he leaned closer. His lips descended on hers in a lingering kiss. He was startled by the passion with which she returned it. When he finally drew back both of them were smiling. "Feel better?"

"Much. That's just what I needed." She waited a moment before she spoke again. "Zuko?"

"What?"

"Will you train me and help me improve my bending and better control it? I want to be able to defend myself."

"Of course. But you need to heal first; I don't want you to get hurt any more. Now try to go to sleep."

She yawned, "No problem there." She quickly fell asleep and Zuko simply lay there watching her for a short time before falling asleep himself.

* * *

WITH CAROLINE

Caroline was back down at the stream early the next morning. Sokka and Katara were both still asleep and Aang hadn't returned yet. Caroline knew that he would come back soon, so she decided to give herself a break from making tea and go wash her hair.

In all her free time she'd devised a fairly amusing way to do so using her water bending. She would pluck a string of water from the pool, stream it straight through her hair, and let it drop to the ground on her other side. It came in handy because she didn't have to strip off all of her clothes and submerge herself entirely into the cold water. After she did the process once, she repeated it several times, mostly because it was fun.

_**Meanwhile, back at the campsite...**_

Aang had just returned and cured Sokka and Katara with the frozen frogs he'd gotten in the bog. Once the two realized what they were sucking on they gagged and tried to wipe the 'frog germs' off their tongues.

Sokka was still in the midst of doing just this when he realized that Caroline was absent. "Where's Lomi Ka?" He asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Aang replied. "I haven't seen her since I got back."

"I'm going to go look for her." Sokka said, standing. "You two wait here incase she shows up."

Aang and Katara nodded and watched as he hurried down the hill towards the stream. "Follow him?" Katara asked, feeling the need to do something.

"You bet!" Aang replied cheerily. "This should be some fun stuff!"

_**Back at the stream...**_

Caroline was about to bend the water one last time when a voice sounded behind her. "Well, what sort of magic and bizarre rituals are we practicing down here?"

Startled, Caroline lost control of the water and it went soaring straight into Sokka's face. It was only then that it registered in her mind who'd spoken. "Sorry Sok--." She paused when it clicked in her mind. "Sokka! Oh my goodness! You're better! I was so worried!" Without thinking she ran towards him and hugged him fiercely, knocking him to the ground.

Giggling could be heard in the bushes and Aang and Katara came walking out. "Oooh! Looks like someone has a crush on Sokka!" Katara said in a sing-song voice.

Caroline blushed, the shade of her cheeks nearly matching that of her robes, and she stepped away from Sokka. "Lomi Ka likes Sokka! Lomi Ka likes Sokka!" Katara continued as she began to dance around in circles.

"So what if I do?" Caroline cried, her fists beginning to smoke. She turned and ran into the forest, too embarrassed to stick around.

"Good job, Katara!" Sokka yelled at his sister. "Now look what you've done!" He ran off in the direction Caroline had went.

Katara made as if to go after him, but Aang stopped her.

"Let him handle this one, Katara" He said. "Perhaps we did push that a bit too far. After all, its none of our business who Lomi Ka or Sokka likes."

"I guess I did get a bit carried away..." Katara admitted. "Come on, lets go." She and Aang walked back to the campsite together, leaving Sokka to find Caroline.

_**Somewhere in the woods...**_

"Lomi Ka!" Sokka called when he caught sight of the girl. Despite her embarrassment Caroline stopped and allowed Sokka to come up beside her. Several moments of awkward silence followed before Sokka asked, "Is it true? Do you really have a crush on me?"

Caroline blushed and looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "Yes..." She mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Yes!" Caroline said louder, finally turning to face him.

Sokka smiled at her. "Good," He replied. "Because I kinda, sorta like you too."

Caroline gasped, hesitated for a moment, and then threw her arms around Sokka. He returned her embrace and they stood there for several moments locked in each others arms. Reluctantly, Caroline pulled away and sighed. "We should probably be heading back to the campsite now." She said quietly. "No need to make Aang and Katara wonder what on earth we're doing down here."

"Good idea," Sokka replied as he took her hand. She smiled softly and the two of them walked out of the woods and up the hill to the campsite.


	10. Dress Up

yeah so I haven't updeted in like forever and I'm so sorry about that. yeah so heres a new chapter finally.

oh yeah and to **Anime Fan Team** I like died laughing when I read your review. It totally made my day! I could totally see it happeing inside my head.

well now that I've made myself sound crazy... on with the chapter I guess!

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**ZUKO'S SHIP**

Zuko woke in the morning and was surprised to feel that Trina was not beside him. He shot to his feet scanning the room for any sign of why she wasn't there, but he needn't have worried. He saw her sitting in front of his meditation candles trying to control the small flames. She was now dressed it the clothes that they had bought at the market

"Come on fire work with me."

Zuko laughed to himself and moved to her side. "You know getting frustrated with it gets you nowhere."

She gasped and when she did the candles flared violently. "I didn't even know you were awake. Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry. I takes practice before you can bend all four at once. Just start with one." He blew out three of the candles. "Now try it again."

She concentrated on the single candle and to her surprise she was able to control it rather easily.

"You see, you can do it. You seem to have great potential but you have to take it one step at a time"

"You really think I have great potential? You're not just saying that right?"

He couched beside her and stroked her bruised cheek. "Of course not. You obviously have potential judging by the way you stood up to Zhao. You have courage."

"Yeah, only until he starts making threats."

He sighed saying, "This self doubt does nothing for you and will not help you learn. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast."

**

* * *

WITH CAROLINE**

When Sokka and Caroline returned to the campsite hand in hand, they found Katara and Aang playing with some of the stuff Momo had found. Katara was once again wearing the crown Momo had dropped onto her head and Aang was pretending to bow before her. They were both laughing.

When they spotted Sokka and Caroline they stopped immediately, though Caroline didn't miss the amused smiles they exchanged.

"What's going on here?" Sokka asked. "Playing dress-up?"

Neither Aang nor Katara answered, so Caroline did. "C'mon Sokka, we should join in too! It looks like fun!" She pulled him towards the pile of stuff and began to rummage through it. Sokka joined her.

Sokka had only looked for a minute when he found a necklace very similar to his own. "Here, Lomi Ka." He said while handing it to her. Caroline smiled brightly and put the necklace on.

"How does it look?" She asked.

"It looks great!" Sokka replied.

"It's perfect for you!" Katara chimed in.

"Uh, yeah, what they said." Aang added.

Caroline smiled at them all, but especially at Sokka. "Thank you..." She mumbled in embarrassment, her cheeks burning a bright red.

Katara noticed this and decided that the poor girl had been embarrassed enough for one day. "Oh, look!" She said, digging through the assortment of items before her. "Marbles!"

"Fun stuff!" Aang said, taking the marbles from her. "Lomi Ka hasn't seen my marble trick yet!"

Caroline sighed in relief and watched Aang's trick in amusement. When he finished they all returned to rummaging through the items, looking for things that might be useful for their journey.

Caroline found a short sword and attached it to her waist. Aang and Katara hefted a small box of valuables into Appa's saddle and Sokka chose out a short fishing pole already strung with line. Caroline knew that he only wanted this so he could catch some food and she smiled to herself.

Katara saw her staring at Sokka and walked up beside her. "You really like him, don't you?" She said quietly so only she and Caroline could hear.

Caroline sighed dreamily and nodded. "He likes you too, you know." Katara continued. "You should see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching him!"

"How?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Nearly the same way you look at him," Katara said, smiling at the fire-water bender. "He would describe it as 'lovey dovey' or something along that line."

Caroline grinned innocently as Katara continued. "You really make him happy, and he's not near as self-centered as he used to be. He's always thinking about you now."

Caroline wasn't sure how to respond to this, but as it turned out, she didn't have to because Sokka came walking over. Katara quickly shut her mouth and looked as innocent as she could. "You were talking about me, weren't you?" Sokka asked when he saw her face.

"Don't worry," Caroline assured him. "It was nothing bad."

"Oh, that's good." Sokka mused. "Well, I just came over to say that Aang and I are ready to head out. Are you?"

Both Katara and Caroline nodded and headed for Appa. Sokka sat down beside Caroline and draped an arm around her shoulders. Katara glanced at Caroline and raised her eyebrows in a 'See what I told you?' sort of way. Caroline smiled and leaned into Sokka's side. She remained that way for the entire ride until they landed once again and made camp for the night.


	11. Of ADD and Boomerangs

Another chapter! YEEHAW! sorry bout that I watch too much Dukes of Hazzard (I just love that car)... um ok then on with the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 11

ZUKO'S SHIP

As the days passed Trina and Zuko became more and more inseparable. Zuko never went anywhere without her beside him, and even if she wasn't beside him he never let her out of his sight. He didn't want to risk anything happening to her. He didn't think any of his men would dare to touch her but he couldn't help but worry. At least the bruise was beginning to fade so he wouldn't have that reminder of how he had failed to protect her.

Zuko was beginning her training with some basics that wouldn't put much strain on her ribs. The first few days they devoted solely to breathing techniques. "The most powerful fire bending comes from breath not muscle. Now you try it," having just demonstrated an exercise. When he turned to her he saw that she was looking out at the ocean. "Did you hear anything I just said?" He seemed to be fighting a loosing battle at times to get her to pay attention.

"I'm sorry. It's not my fault I have ADD."

"What's that?"

"Attention defecate disorder, it makes it hard to concentrate on one thing for very long."

"We might as well take a break for a while then."

"Well, if it isn't my two favorite young people," Iroh said as he walked up to them. "How are you feeling my dear, Zuko isn't wearing you out is he?"

"No sir, but I think I want to change so if you two will excuse me." She backed away and started for Zuko's room.

"Be sure to lock the door." Zuko called after her.

"You worry too much." She called back to him without turning around.

"She's right you know. You do worry too much."

"No, I don't. You know how I feel about her. I just don't want to risk anything happening to her."

"Yes I do know how you feel about her, and I know that she feels the same way about you, but you need to give her some space. I will say that she's the best thing to happen to you. You've been less short with the crew and your overall attitude is improved. I think it's time for you to take the next step."

"If you say any thing about having children I'll hit you."

Iroh laughed, "for once that's not what I meant. What is something people who are in love do?"

"………"

Iroh shook his head at the blank stare he was getting from his nephew. "People who are in love get married, Prince Zuko, you know that."

"Get married? Uncle you can be serious. I've barely known her a week."

"I know that, but I've seen the way you two look at each other went you think no one is looking. The crew has seen it and knows too. I think you should do it."

"But how can I ask her? I don't have a ring either."

"Come with me. I have something for you that may solve that problem."

Zuko followed his uncle to his room. Once inside Iroh opened a drawer and reached into the back of it and pulled out a small black box and handed it to Zuko.

When Zuko opened the box he nearly gasped at the beauty of the ring inside. It was made of the finest silver inset with rubies and diamonds and was shaped a bit like a starfish. It was vaguely familiar to him. "Uncle, where did you get this?"

"It was your mother's. She wanted you to have it. She gave it to me to keep for you right before she died and told me to save it for you until a special time. I think that this is that special time."

"Thank you," Zuko said simply. Thinking of his mother was still painful; she had died only a short time before he had been banished.

Iroh put a hand on Zuko's shoulder and said, "It would have made her happy if you proposed to Tarrina with her ring."

"Do you really think so?"

"I don't have to think, I know so."

"But how can I propose? I don't know what to say to her. What if she says no?"

"Trust me she won't say no. As to how to go about actually proposing, just say what comes from your heart."

"Thank you Uncle."

"You know Music Night is tomorrow, I'm sure it would really impress her if you did it there, in front of the crew."

"Uncle you can't possibly be serious."

"Of course I am. I know she wants to go. She told me that she was planning on singing and I know that if she's there you'll be there. You can't get out of this. You should do it right after she's finished singing."

"I don't know," Zuko said hesitantly. "I don't know if I can do it in front of the whole crew.

"If you really love her you can, I know it."

"Thank you Uncle Iroh." Zuko put the ring box in his pocket and left the room. He made his way slowly back to his own room, thinking about what his uncle had said. He was startled from his thoughts when he met Trina in the hallway.

"You ready to start training again?" She asked him.

"Give me a minute. I'll meet you out on deck." Trina nodded and both of them continued on their way.

Zuko entered his room and locked the door. He didn't need anyone barging in on him in the middle of what he was doing. He pulled back one of the mats on his floor and pressed on a panel while using his bending. The panel promptly slid back. Inside the space was his blue spirit mask. He took the ring box out of his pocket and put it in the space as well. He closed the panel and replaced the mat. Now that he was certain that nothing could happen to the ring until he was ready to use it he could go about his business.

He made his way back through the halls and back out on deck. He found that most of the crew had gathered and was watching and cheering something, but from his position he couldn't see what.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh called, "it seems that Miss Tarrina is quite a skilled fighter."

"What?"

"Look. Apparently your training is going well."

Zuko managed to push his way to the front of the mass of crew and what he saw surprised him greatly. Trina was in the middle of a sparring session with Lieutenant Ji. She was holding her own surprisingly well but Zuko could tell she was tiring. Zuko stood and watched for a few moments and was about to step in when Trina fell, breathing heavily.

Ji offered her a hand up. She refused it saying, "I think I'll just lie here for a while and collect my thoughts." He laughed as he and the rest of the crew began to go about their business.

"You know you could have waited for me," Zuko said as he knelt down beside her.

"I know but he offered to spar with me and I didn't want to say no."

"Are you going to be able to keep training today?"

"Sure, dude just gives me a few minutes. You gonna help me up or not?"

Zuko offered her his hand feeling slightly embarrassed that he hadn't right away. "Are you sure that you're alright?"

"Yeah, but maybe I should rest a while before we start training again."

"I'll take you back to our room."

"I can walk on my own you know," she said as she started walking toward the door. She didn't get too far though before she stumbled.

"Apparently you can't." Zuko picked her up easily and carried her to their room. "So where did you learn those moves?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"OK. I picked up movements by watching too much TV."

"What's 'TV'?"

"I'll tell you about it sometime when I'm not so tired," she said avoiding the question. She wasn't really sure why she had even brought up TV, but she had. She knew eventually she had to tell him about where she was from but she wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

He put her down at the door and they both went inside. Zuko shut the door behind them. He went and sat at his meditation table while Trina laid down on the bed. Very soon after that he knew that she had fallen asleep because he could here her snoring lightly (well 'lightly' might be an understatement really). He tried to collect his thoughts and he found that every one of them pertained to the girl asleep in his bed. He knew that he should follow his uncle's advice and propose at Music Night but he was having trouble convincing himself to go through with it. He meditated about it for a while until he heard a soft knock on the door.

Zuko rose quickly and went to the door so he could answer it before the knocking woke Trina (not that there was any trouble of that because she was a very sound sleeper.) He was greeted by his uncle.

"Now what?"

"Zuko come for a walk with me. I want to talk to you."

Zuko looked back into the room and made sure that Trina was still asleep. He then nodded and stepped out of the room after Iroh.

"So have you thought about my suggestion?"

"Yes Uncle. I believe that I'll do it."

"Be sure to do it right after she's done singing. She told me that she was going to be singing a love song, that means the moment will be prefect."

Zuko remained silent processing this.

"So what did you do with the ring? It's not somewhere that she'll find it until you give it to her?"

"Don't worry. It's well hidden."

Iroh noticed the position of the sun in the sky, "it seems to be later than either of us realized. Go to bed Zuko. Don't get her up to train any more today. She fought enough today."

"Yeah," was all that Zuko said.

"When did you teach her those moves?"

"I didn't. All we've been doing is breathing exercises. When I asked her about it she was very vague. You don't happen to know what a 'TV' is, do you?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Most interesting though. I'm not sure I would want to face her in a fight once she's fully recovered and you complete her training." Zuko smiled slightly at his uncle's compliment. "Go to bed Zuko. You need to keep your love warm." At that Zuko shook his head because he couldn't believe Iroh had just said that.

"Please stop saying things like that," Zuko said before turning to return to his room.

When he entered his room he found that Trina had just woken up and was sitting on the edge of the bed stretching. "Don't bother to get up, it's getting dark."

"Oh, well I guess I can change out of these clothes then."

"I'll wait outside until you're done."

"Don't worry about it. Just turn around. I trust you not to look." She changed quickly once his back was turned. "All done," she said after a few short moments. At that point she decided that because the room was slightly warmer than usual she would zip them off at the knee.

"Don't rip your pants"

"I'm not. It's a zipper," she said while she demonstrated how it worked.

"Very interesting."

"They're quite common where I come from."

"Where is that? You never told me."

"Well…..," she hesitated. She knew that the time had come for the truth. "I don't know how to tell you this without simply coming out and saying it, I'm not from this world."

Zuko stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't seem to grasp it. "What?"

She sighed, "Where I'm from this whole place and everything happening here is just a story. No one even knows this world actually exists."

Zuko was silent, processing this new information.

"I'm sorry for not telling you before. I-I didn't know what to say you. I mean how do you tell someone you love that before you came to this place you didn't even think they were real? You hate me for not telling you before, don't you?" She rambled.

That snapped him back to reality. "No, I could never hate you. How could you even think that? All I can do is love you. I don't care if you're from another world or not."

"That's definitely good to hear."

"Come on. Let's go to bed."

Trina nodded and crawled into bed with Zuko and snuggled into his strong arms. She was incredibly relieved that her revelation hadn't really changed their relationship. She had been afraid he would reject her because of it. But now that she thought about it she realized that if he really loved her he wouldn't reject her. She sighed contently at being locked in Zuko's arms and fell asleep.

* * *

WITH CAROLINE

When Caroline woke up the next morning she realized that she was alone. She assumed that Sokka was out looking for berries, but she wasn't sure where Katara and Aang were. Yawning and stretching her arms she stood to walk around the campsite.

When she walked over by the campfire she noted that Sokka had left his travel bag and boomerang behind. Caroline smiled wickedly. "Hehehe...boomerang!" She laughed. Unable to control herself, she picked it up and slid it out of its sheath.

She cautiously looked around to make sure no one was watching her. No one was. She tossed the weapon, aiming for the nearest tree. It spiraled around her intended target and suddenly began to come back at her. "Crap!" She cried and launched herself to the ground just as the boomerang whizzed over her head.

A loud THONK! sounded behind her and she peered cautiously around. The boomerang was stuck deep in a tree trunk about four feet off the ground. "Uh-oh," She said to herself. "Not good!"

She rushed at the tree and tried to pull the boomerang out. It was stuck fast. She yanked and pulled with all of her might, but it wouldn't come free. She was just about to give up and leave it when Sokka appeared behind her.

"Morning, Lomi Ka!" He called cheerily. "What are you doing?"

Caroline spun around and shielded the boomerang from Sokka's sight. "Nothing!" She replied a bit too fast, making Sokka curious.

"C'mon, what are you hiding?" He tried to peer behind her but she blocked him. "I'll tickle you again! Show me!"

Caroline giggled as he gently tickled at her sides, but she didn't move. "You'll be mad at me!" She said, trying not to laugh.

Sokka stepped closer to her and playfully threw his arms around her waist. He tried to pull her away from the tree and she fought to stay close to it. Suddenly Sokka's grip slipped and they both flew in different directions. Caroline quickly scrambled to her feet in an attempt to hide the boomerang, but Sokka saw it anyway.

"My boomerang!" Sokka cried, rushing to the tree and tugging at the weapon.

"See," Caroline said, her face downcast. "I told you you'd be mad at me." She sank to the ground and sighed sadly.

Sokka stopped pulling at the boomerang and stooped to put an arm around Caroline's shoulders. "I'm not mad," He whispered softly into her ear. Caroline giggled slightly as his breath tickled her and she blushed. Sokka continued, "I'm just curious to know how the heck you got it stuck in there so good."

Caroline turned her head slightly and found Sokka's sparkling eyes only inches from hers. "I was just playing with it." She mumbled. She could feel the heat rising in her face so she backed away and stood up. "Maybe if we both pull on it together it will come loose."

Sokka stood as well and looked at the boomerang. "Perhaps you're right," He mused. "Well, its worth a try anyway."

They both latched their hands around the boomerang handle that was protruding from the tree and pulled. Nothing happened.

From behind them Aang and Katara watched as they walked into the campsite. "What's going on?" Aang asked as he approached them.

"We're trying...to pull...my boomerang...out...of...this...tree!" Sokka explained as he and Caroline tugged at the weapon yet again.

Katara laughed. "How did you get it stuck in there in the first place?" She asked.

"My...fault." Caroline began. "Whoa!" The boomerang finally came free, but Caroline and Sokka weren't ready for it. They went tumbling backwards, tripping over Aang and Katara, and finally crashing to the ground some twenty feet away.

Caroline slammed into a tree and when she stood up she rubbed her back. She knew that new bruises were probably forming over her old, almost healed ones from when she fell with the lightning.

"That'll leave a mark!" She grumbled as Sokka ran towards her.

"Lomi Ka, are you all right?" He asked worriedly. "That looked like it hurt!"

_Oh, it did! _She thought, but instead she replied, "I'm fine. Maybe a little bruised up, but fine."

Sokka took her hand and led her over towards the fireplace. "That's good," He said. "Are you hungry?"

Caroline nodded and Aang and Katara came running over. "What did you find to eat?" Aang asked.

"Please tell me that its not nuts!" Katara groaned, thinking of all the times she'd had to eat them.

"Its not nuts," Sokka assured her.

"Are you just saying that?"

"No, look!" He pulled some oranges from a bag and handed one to everyone. He gave Katara a smug smile. "See?"

Katara rolled her eyes and Sokka and Caroline could only laugh.

* * *

As always R&R is always appreciated!


	12. WAKE UP! and spiders

Finally another chapter! It's been written for a long time I just haven't had time to upload it (and I kept forgetting) so thank you to zukoiscute for reminding me.

this one is kinda short so I'll try to upload another chappie later but no guarantees. Well I guess thats enough rambling on my part, on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**ZUKO'S SHIP**

Trina woke early that morning to find Zuko already awake and meditating. She made her way over to him and knelt beside him. "A lot on your mind?" She asked softly before kissing him on the cheek.

"Yes."

"You want to talk about it?"

"I'll tell you later." He said as he rose. "Why are you up so early this morning?"

"I couldn't sleep anymore. Not right now at least. I need to walk around a while."

"I'll walk with you." They stepped out into the hall and simply wondered about aimlessly for a while. Trina stopped when the came to Iroh's door. She and Zuko could here him snoring all the way outside the room.

A devilish look crossed her face as she opened the door and crept inside, leaving Zuko standing in the hall.

"What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Shhhhh!" She turned making sure that they hadn't woke Iroh. He was still sleeping soundly as she snuck to his bedside. She slid right up to his ear. "WAKE UP!" She shouted.

Iroh was startled from his sleep and shot to his feet, his eyes searching the room for the source of the disturbance. They came to rest on Trina who was now rolling on the floor in the throws of her laughter. Iroh turned when he heard laughing coming from another source. When Iroh saw him Zuko was leaning heavily on the doorframe for support, laughing hysterically as well.

"Couldn't you two find some other way to amuse yourselves?" But both teens were still laughing too hard to answer him.

Zuko was the first to regain his senses. "You should have seen the look on your face," he was still having trouble keeping laughing under control.

"Ha ha. Could you two lovebirds leave me alone so I can go back to sleep?"

Trina and Zuko left the room, both of them still sniggering. "I'm ready to go back to sleep for a while," Trina said.

"How can you be ready to sleep after that?"

"I'm just weird like that I guess (yawn)."

They walked back to the room together, Trina was now leaning on Zuko. When they reached the room she simply collapsed onto the bed. Zuko shook his head and went back to his meditating trying to gather the courage within himself to ask Trina for her hand in marriage. He found that this seemed to be futile and lay back down on the bed.

"You know most people get up in the morning, they don't go back to bed," came Trina's voice from beside him.

"Look who's talking."

"I don't have like a zillion responsibilities around here like you do."

He rolled his eyes as he got up and prepared for the day. As he left the room he said, "Good morning Tarrina." She mumbled something back to him that sounded vaguely like a reply.

When Zuko left the room he was met by his uncle. "I was just coming to tell you two how much I appreciated being woke up this morning."

"You were going to try to do the same thing to us weren't you?" Zuko asked dryly. From the look on Iroh's face Zuko could tell he was right. "Don't do it to her Uncle. If you do she'll get mad at you and not sing at music night. Then what would I do."

"I'll leave her alone just this once, but only because you asked so nicely. She really has done wonders for you, Zuko. Now tell me how you're going to propose to her."

"I'm still not sure." Zuko said softly. "Whenever I try to plan what I'm going to do, my mind goes blank."

"Don't worry, you have until tonight to work it out."

"That's not really all that comforting, Uncle."

* * *

**WITH CAROLINE**

Night was falling and everyone was gathered around the campfire. Caroline and Sokka sat close together, as had been their custom since they'd discovered their feelings for one another. Aang and Katara also sat side by side, though not as close together. Momo lounged in Katara's lap, purring, and Appa was dozing off several feet away.

All was quiet. The only noises to be heard were Momo's purring and the soft crackling of the fire. Suddenly Caroline shrieked and leapt into Sokka's lap. Everyone (except Sokka because Caroline was in his lap.) jumped up and looked around for what might have frightened her. They found nothing out of the ordinary.

"What is it?" Sokka asked. "What did you see?"

Caroline whimpered and mumbled something unintelligible. She pointed to a rock in front of where she'd been sitting. On the rock was a tiny, itsy-bitsy spider.

"That's it?" Aang asked in disbelief. "But it's so cute!"

Katara raised an eyebrow and shot Aang a disgusted look. "Eeew!"

"I hate spiders!" Caroline cried. "Oh, please, just get rid of it!"

Sokka reached around Caroline and was about to squish the spider when Aang stopped him. "Don't kill it!" He shooed Sokka's hand away and picked up the spider. He then walked out of the campsite and returned a few moments later empty handed.

Caroline sighed in relief and reluctantly crawled out of Sokka's lap. "Why are you so afraid of spiders?" Sokka asked as she did so.

"Way too many bad spider experiences." Caroline said, thinking back to the time she'd been in Japan in particular. There she'd seen a spider that was literally 4 inches wide. "Unkillable super-spiders on the stairs….oh, oh! And this one spider that scared me out of my wits and I fell three feet or more off my bed and onto the floor. That really hurt. Oh, and…."

"Alright, alright, we get it now." Sokka said placing a finger on her lips to get her to be quiet. "Is there anything else that you're afraid of that we should know about?"

"Um, snakes. I think that's about it though."

"Good," Sokka exclaimed, and then yawned widely. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight!" Caroline said as she hugged him gently. "Sleep well!"

"You too." He replied. "And watch out for those spiders."

Caroline shuddered but nodded and watched Sokka walk a few feet away and curl up under his blanket. (Caroline was still using his sleeping bag.)

"Perhaps we should all go to sleep," She said finally. "It's getting late, and I'm a bit tired myself."

Katara and Aang agreed and they all went to bed. Soon everyone was sound asleep.

* * *

I thought I was going to die laughing when Seeker of the Charter sent me her part of this chapter (that spider part). she would totally do that too! hehe! she freaked when I chased her with a dead spider (I'm so mean right?) she wont even let me point out spiders cause if I do she gets all whimpery.

And anyway...always remember reviews are good. they make me happy!


	13. Chapter 13

-1Chapter 13

ZUKO'S SHIP

Not much happened that day. Trina didn't emerge from the room until well after noon. And when se did she insisted in speaking as little as possible so to 'rest her voice for later'. She watched silently as the crew set up for music night. They set up a raised platform in the middle of the deck. At this she was beginning to have second thoughts.

Iroh walked up behind her, "ready for tonight?"

She jumped slightly and flames flared at her fists because she didn't know that he was there. "Iroh please don't sneak up behind me like that."

"I could say the same thing to you."

"Sorry about that. I just needed to do something to wake up so I could go back to sleep. That didn't really make any sense… but that's just how I am. And as for tonight, no I don't think I am ready."

"Of course your ready my dear. Let me tell you a secret." He lowered his voice and leaned closer, "Prince Zuko is planning something special after you sing."

"Really? What is it?"

"That I can't tell you, it would spoil it."

"Is that why he's been meditating so incessantly?"

"Yes. I believe he's a bit nervous about it."

"Come on. Tell me."

"No, I'm sorry I can't. I believe that my nephew would try to kill me if I spoiled his surprise."

"Oh alright, I wouldn't want Zuko to do anything to you that he'll regret later. But one more thing, do you think I'll like the surprise?"

"Of course you will my dear."

"What are you two talking about?" Came Zuko's voice from behind them.

"We were just talking about the song I will be singing tonight."

"You're sure you weren't talking about other things?"

"Of course I'm sure, Love." Zuko blushed a bit from being addressed in such a manner, but went about his business.

"You think on your feet Tarrina."

"Thanks, but usually I can't. But in a way that's sort of what we were about before, mean we were talking about tonight, so I just improvised."

"So what are you going to sing?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," she answered smugly.

Trina spent the rest of her day trying to find the strength to force herself to sing, and wondering what Zuko's surprise might be. Nothing that she thought of seemed even remotely like him.

She put on the clothes that Zuko had bought her at the market and she decided that it was time for a change in her look, it was time to let her hair down. She took out all seven hair ties that she always wore and brushed her hair out. Zuko stepped into the room just after she had finished. He was stunned speechless at the change.

"You don't like it?"

"No, I love it. I've never seen anyone more beautiful," Zuko said before laying a soft kiss across her lips. "Music Night is about to start and Uncle Iroh wants you."

"Aren't you coming?" She asked when she started to leave and he didn't follow.

"I'll be right there." With that Trina turned and left the room and Zuko locked the door after she was gone. He opened the panel and got the ring out. "This is it," he told himself, "I can't back out of this now."

He slipped from the room and went out onto the deck. He found that she was already being pushed up onto the platform and she was looking more nervous than he was feeling. She seemed to resolve herself as she stepped into the center of the platform.

Zuko stepped out and stood next to his uncle. "Prince Zuko, how nice of you to join us. I know how much you love music night." Zuko had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "I seem to have been able to convince her to sing two songs, so wait till she's completely done." Zuko nodded.

Their attention was drawn bact to Trina as she began to speak. "Um hi, ya'll. It seems that I've been convinced to sing for you. Two songs in fact, so shut up and listen and don't make fun of me when it's really bad."

She began to sing:

_Fire and rain is my favorite song  
I say a prayer at 11:11  
I could watch old movies all night long  
I'm not sure about hell but I know there's a heaven  
Sometimes I feel so alone it scares me  
I talk in my sleep but there's no one to hear me_

Unknown  
I don't want to be unknown  
The little things that make me who I am  
_I need to share  
I need to know that someone cares_

That I drink coffee black  
That I sing when I drive  
That I sleep with the TV on  
More than anything  
I don't want to be unknown

_I love September when leaves turn gold  
I get nervous in crowded places  
Someday I want to see San Francisco  
I'm bad with names, but remember faces  
I need more than a kiss, more than a lover  
I'm a world that's just waiting to be discovered_

Unknown  
I don't want to be unknown  
The little things that make me who I am  
I need to share  
I need to know that someone cares

That I write down my dreams  
That I love when it rains  
I burn candles when I'm alone  
More than anything  
_I don't want to be unknown  
More than anything  
No one wants to be unknown _

When she had finished the song a cheer went up from the crew and she turned a brilliant shade of red.

Now during this whole thing Zuko was speechless and had to be poked by Iroh to bring him out of it. "Hey, snap out of it. She's not even done yet and your already in a trance."

As soon as the crew had quieted she started to sing again.

_I'll show you worlds  
You've never seen  
The sun and moon and shadows  
The rainbow's arch, the mountain stream  
The sunless clouds  
And the winter's dream_

I'll play you sounds  
You've never heard  
The waterfall, the river  
The thunder of the hummingbird  
The whisper of the snow

What if you never know  
How much you cared  
Till you are parted  
Like stormy sea

How could I let you go?  
How could I have  
My life without you  
Here with me!

The world's a door  
That's open wide  
Because you're here beside me  
And with the moon and sun  
To guide me  
Now my heart  
Can fly  
Now our hearts  
Can be freeeeeeee!

Zuko knew that it was time to step up. He quickly moved from his position beside Iroh and was on the platform almost before he realized that he moved.

"Zuko are you going to sing too?" Trina asked jokingly.

"No. I have a question for you while you're here." He moved closer to her and stroked her cheek. "I've known you for only a short time, but that can't change the way I feel. You've brought a happiness back into my life that I thought I could never feel again. I can't live my life without you. I love you so much." He dropped to one knee. "Will you marry my?" He asked taking the ring from his pocket.

The crew was utterly silent so they could hear her answer. She squealed in delight, with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh my God, yes!" She jumped into his arms as he stood and they shared a long slow kiss.

When they finally separated Zuko slipped the ring onto Trina's finger. The crew was now cheering wildly.

"Come on now let's have a drink in honor of the happy couple," shouted one crew member above the rest.

"Ah yes! Come down here you two so we can toast your engagement," Iroh called to them.

They stepped down of the platform hand in hand. Trina was a bit apprehensive about the whole toasting thing because she knew she would be expected to drink as well. When they stepped down Iroh was there and handed each of them a goblet of wine. Trina stared at hers for a moment before she raised it in the toast.

"To the happy young couple. May their days always be filled with love and prosperity. May they be blessed with many children and long lives together. And finally to love!" (Iroh was rather pleased with his comment about children because Zuko hadn't been able to scold him for it that time.)

A cheer rose yet again from the men as they all lifted their mugs and downed their liquor. Trina slowly raised her own goblet to her lips and was pleased to find that this wine didn't taste horrible like the wine and champagne that she had tasted at home. She finished it and was in the process of sitting the goblet down went Zuko refilled it.

"What are you doing?"

"I wish to toast again, just you and me. Here's to a long, love filled life," he said as he stroked her cheek and kissed her again. When he pulled back they both drank.

"That, My Love, was a heck of a toast. Now, no more booze for you. I'm not spending the night with a drunk fiancé."

"But I won't-"

"No. I know how drunks get all touchy feely, and you aren't getting any further with that until after we're married."

"Awww man." Now when he said that he sounded exactly like Jake Long (Disney Channel YAY!) and Trina burst into hysterics.

"Maybe you already had a little too much Tarrina."

"Could be. I've never drank this much before before."

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"Where I'm from I'm still underage. Back home you're supposed to be 21 before you're allowed to drink, not that that stopped a bunch of people I know." She swayed slightly and was beginning to think perhaps Zuko was right about her having too much to drink already. Zuko noticed the fact that she was beginning to sway and stood beside her to steady her. She leaned against him and inhaled his scent deeply from the maroon robe he was wearing.

"You smell really good. Did you know that?" Her words were slightly slurred.

"You've definitely had too much." He turned toward his uncle and called, "I'm taking her to bed. She's had too much to drink already."

Iroh laughed and said, "now you two have fun."

Zuko left Trina standing where she was and was in front of Iroh in a second. "I thought I told you to stop saying things like that. Nothing is going to happen, not till after the wedding. Am I clear on that Uncle?"

"Crystal."

"Good."

He moved back to Trina and picked her up and as he passed through the crew with her he heard all sorts of comments and suggestions that should not be heard by, well, anyone. He simply ignored them and carried Trina back to their room. He knew there would be wild rumors flying about in the morning but he didn't care at the moment.

As he entered the room he realized that Trina had already fallen asleep against his chest. He smiled down at the sleeping girl in his arms. _Not just any girl, my fiancé. _He laid her down on their bed gently and kissed her forehead before getting ready to go to sleep himself. He lay down on the bed beside her and whispered, "You seem to have a wonderful habit of getting me out of Music Night." He knew that she wouldn't hear him but he didn't care. He wrapped his arms around her and simply lay there for a while. It was still early so he laid awake for a while savoring the feeling of her body against his, listening to the sounds of music night as it continued without them.

WITH CAROLINE

Caroline awoke in the middle of the night and she wasn't sure why. Then she heard the sounds of someone shivering. She crawled out of the sleeping bag and the cold air chilled her instantly. She shivered herself and immediately used her fire bending skills to raise her body temperature. Comfortable once again, she followed the sound of shivering and found Sokka curled in a ball beneath his thin blanket. Amazingly, he was still asleep.

Caroline knelt beside him and shook him awake. He looked at her and pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "You're not cold?" He asked curiously. "How could you not be cold?"

Caroline smiled. "I recently discovered that I can use fire bending to raise my body temperature. I am quite comfortable." She said. She walked over to the fireplace and started a fire using her bending. Sokka quickly came over and sat beside it, soaking up its warmth. Caroline continued to talk. "I want you to take your sleeping bag back. I can use the blanket until I can get myself one."

Sokka tried to protest but Caroline placed a finger on his lips. "I'm half fire bender, you're not. Now don't argue with me!" She whispered. She stood and dragged Sokka towards his sleeping bag. "Now get in there and go to sleep, I'll be fine."

Sokka decided that it would be best not to argue for the moment. He crawled into the sleeping bag and was soon sleeping contentedly. Caroline smiled to herself and took the blanket that he'd discarded. She curled under it close by the fire, and soon she too was asleep.


	14. a hangover and an accident

Ok so it's been a super long time since I updated this. sorry 'bout that. I've just been lazy sorry. so well here's the next chapter.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 14

**ZUKO'S SHIP**

Trina woke that morning with a splitting headache. "Owww….." She held her head.

"Shh, it'll pass. Just give it a chance," Zuko whispered softly so as not to make the headache worse. "You had a little bit too much to drink last night."

"I figured as much."

Zuko pulled her back to his chest and held her wishing that he could will the pain away knowing there was nothing that he could do other than lay with her. And that was exactly what he planned to do. Anyone who tried to get him up before Trina decided to get up was to be pitied.

"Zuko, what happened after your uncle's toast? It kinda gets all fuzzy after that."

"I toasted to us and gave you more to drink. I suppose that it's my fault that you feel this way."

"No, don't blame yourself. Did I do anything stupid after that?"

"You told me that I, um, smell good."

"I did?" She asked. Zuko nodded. "Well at least that's true, you do smell good," she said inhaling his scent once again. It was a bit like wood smoke. She snuggled into his arms even further and sighed contentedly, well content as you can be with a hangover.

There was a loud knock on the door and Trina moaned and attempted to bury her head in Zuko's chest to block out the sound. Zuko growled and said, "I'll take care of this." He rose from the bed and went to the door. When he opened it he wasn't shocked by the fact that it was Iroh who was standing there.

"Uncle Iroh, what do you want?" Zuko was fuming.

"I.. I was just wondering if you two were going to come to breakfast."

"No. And I don't plan on leaving this room until Tarrina is over her hangover. Do not disturb us again!" He would have slammed the door but he didn't because he knew that it would do Trina's head no good. He returned to the bed and lay back down beside her. He pulled Trina into his arms once more.

"You don't need to stay with me if you're needed for something."

"But I want to stay. This is the first day of our engagement and I want to spend every moment of it with you."

"I love you so much, Zuko"

"And I love you. Nothing can ever change that." He ran a hand over the soft, smooth skin of her cheek and kissed her. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him as close as she could. Zuko deepened the kiss and teased her with his tongue. When they finally separated both of them were breathing heavily.

"My headache is gone now," Trina smiled and whispered. "I'm think a bit dizzy now though."

"Then I guess you better stay right here with me and not try to get up," Zuko whispered as he rubbed Trina's back gently sending shivers down her spine.

"I am most definitely dizzy now," Trina said. His touch was driving her insane. It just felt sooo good but she knew if he didn't stop now she would never be able to control herself. "Zuko, as good as that feels, I think you need to stop."

"Why?"

"It's driving me insane."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Don't worry you can do it as much as you want after we're married," Trina purred.

"I'm looking forward to that."

"I bet you are," she said, the end of the sentence was mangled by a yawn though.

"You should sleep a little longer."

A thought suddenly came to her. "I need to plan!" She sat up quickly and immediately regretted it. "Ow," she said holding her head, "I think my headache's back."

"I wonder why?" Zuko asked sarcastically. His comment was rewarded with a forceful punch to his shoulder. "Ok, I'll stop. You need to sleep now, you can plan later."

"Yes Love." She settled back into his arms and snuggled into his chest. It didn't take her very long to fall asleep.

* * *

**WITH CAROLINE**

When Caroline awoke the next morning, she was still tired. She yawned widely as she threw the blanket off of herself. _Perhaps,_ She thought. _A nice dip in the stream will do me some good. _She stood shakily and stumbled through the campsite. (She was very unconordinated when she first woke up!)

She shuffled past Sokka, who was still asleep, and made her way to the stream. She was about to pause and rub the sleep out of her eyes when a tree appeared in front of her that she'd sworn hadn't been there only seconds before. Before she could stop herself, she walked straight into it.

Her nose cracked and she screamed in pain. Sokka woke at the noise and saw Caroline stumble backwards from the tree, clutching her nose. Blood seeped between her fingers and she whimpered. Sokka rushed to her side.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly.

Caroline waved her free hand in the air and grumbled something about "that bloody tree!" Her voice was all nasally because she had her other hand clamped over her nose.

Sokka thought for a moment and then moved to examine her. "No!" Caroline cried. "Don't touch it! Ow!" She swatted Sokka's hand away.

"Hey!" Sokka yelled. "I'm only trying to help! Now let me see, it might be broken!"

"I could tell you that!" Caroline shouted back. She refused to remove her hands.

Sokka sighed to calm himself. "Look, you're not gonna do it any good if you keep holding onto it like that!" He pushed her gently back onto the ground and pried her hands away from her face. Caroline tried to stop him, but he held her hands fast. Blood flowed freely from her nose and down the side of her face.

Noting this, Caroline immediately stopped struggling. Sokka released one of her hands and reached towards her nose. He pinched a pressure point there, right between her eyes with his fingers. The blood flow slowed and eventually stopped and Sokka finally let Caroline up off the ground.

When she stood she felt light-headed from blood loss and almost fell over again. Sokka caught her and helped her walk over to the campfire. Once she was seated he rushed to the food bag. "Here," He said, handing her an orange. "You'll feel better if you eat this."

"Thanks," Caroline mumbled. Several moments of awkward silence followed as she ate the orange, but when she was finished she continued. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. After all, it wasn't your fault that I broke my nose."

"Don't worry about it," Sokka replied with a wave of his hand. Caroline tried to smile but it hurt her nose to do so. She was about to hug Sokka instead, when Aang and Katara walked into the campsite. Where they had been, neither Caroline or Sokka knew, but they didn't bother to ask.

"Whoa! What happened to you guys?" Katara asked as she observed Caroline's swollen nose and bloodied face and the traces of blood on Sokka's hands and robe.

Caroline blushed in embarrassment but replied. "I'm not very coordinated in the mornings. I walked into a tree and broke my nose."

"And I helped her stop the bleeding," Sokka added in.

Katara clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling and Aang tried hard not to laugh as well. "Um, wow!" He said. "Uh, you two might want to go and clean up. You look terrible!"

"Come on, Lomi Ka. Let's go then." Sokka helped Caroline to her feet and they walked towards the stream. Behind them Aang and Katara burst into fits of laughter. "Just ignore them," Sokka said.

"Don't worry," Caroline assured him. "I get that back home all the time. My family loves to make fun of me."

Sokka didn't know how to reply to that, but he didn't have to because they'd arrived at the stream. Caroline walked forward and sat on a rock beside a small pool of water. Sokka came and sat beside her and began helping her clean the blood off of her face. Caroline blushed, hoped that he wouldn't notice and moved to clean her face by herself. "Its all right, I'll get it on my own."

Sokka continued to clean. "No need," He said. "I've got it." Caroline was about to insist that he stop when he said. "All done!"

"Uh, thanks." Caroline said as she rinsed her hands in the water. Sokka did the same and then scrubbed at his shirt.

Caroline decided that she should return his kindness. "Take off your outer shirt and give it to me for a moment."

Sokka looked at her curiously but didn't argue. "Here," He said, handing the shirt to her. She used her water bending to attack the bloodstain and soon it was gone. Caroline then used her fire bending to heat the breeze blowing around them and dried the shirt. "Hey, thanks!" Sokka exclaimed.

He slipped the shirt back on and then helped Caroline to her feet. "Anytime, love." She replied. She blushed when she realized what she'd just said and looked to see if Sokka'd noticed. He simply smiled and didn't look at her and so she assumed that he'd heard. Neither of them said anything else and so they walked back to the campsite in silence.

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ok guys you know the drill. read and review! I like reviews! tell me what you think, good? bad? anything I can do to improve? please tell me!


	15. a spar and a kiss

Well here's another chapter. I would have posted it yesterday but it wouldn't let me sign inbut whatever.

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**Chapter 15**

**ZUKO'S SHIP**

Later when Trina woke she found that she felt much better. Of course waking up in Zuko's arms was always enough to raise her spirit (even before when she was hung-over). She rose from the bed and stretched.

"Come back here," came Zuko's voice from behind her.

"Don't you think that we should leave this room sometime today? Anyway, I've been laying down for too long. I'm so stiff." She stumbled across the room a bit like a zombie. The thought of herself as a zombie struck her as funny and she laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm walkin' around all stiff and zombie like." She continued to stumble about the room but now in addition to this she began to moan mindlessly as well. "And the thought of myself as a zombie is pretty darn amusing!"

Zuko rolled his eyes, "You have got to be the most insane person I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment. It could be true though."

Zuko shook his head. He got up and went to her. "Sit you crazy nut," he motioned to the bench in front of the meditation candles. "I'll see if I can work some of the stiffness out for you."

She sat on the bench and felt him start to massage her shoulders with his strong hands. Slowly he worked out the knots. Trina was thoroughly enjoying this and was leaning into his touch. When he stopped and took his hands off her back she nearly fell backwards off the bench. "Hey, why'd you stop?"

"Because I worked out all the knots. Doesn't that feel better?"

"Oh, yeah I guess it does feel better. Thanks," she said simply. "So I guess it's time to go forth and greet the day, what's left of it anyway." She rose and started for the door.

"Tarrina, your clothes."

"What about them?"

"They're the same ones you were wearing last night. If you go out there without changing the men will think-"

"They probably already have all sorts of rumors going around about what was going on in here all day and night anyway."

"You don't want to encourage them do you?"

"Not really. I guess you've got a point," Trina conceded. Zuko turned his back so she could change. She slipped out of the clothes she had on quickly and into the training outfit she received when she arrived rather unceremoniously on the ship. Zuko put on his own training shirt so they made a lovely matching set.

It was late afternoon when they emerged from the room. They passed a group of men in the hall. As soon as they were passed them the men began to snigger. Trina stopped and stiffened. She whirled around to face them.

"Is there something on you mind, gentlemen?" Trina shouted the question at them.

"N-n-no ma'am."

Trina started to lunge at the men with flaming hands when Zuko stopped her. "Hey whoa, Tarrina, calm down. This will not improve the situation. Come now let me handle this," Zuko said as he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it gently.

She nodded and slowly lowered her hands. "Be my guest."

He stepped past her and stood directly in front of the men. "I know that you just lied to her when you said there was nothing on your minds, so now lets have the truth then. Out with it!"

"It's just that…"

"Just that what?"

"You two spent so much time in there alone we thought that-"

"You thought that something _must_ have happened between us, is that it?"

"Yes sir."

"Well nothing happened!" Trina shouted from behind Zuko.

"That's right. And you can just tell the rest of the crew that as well! I'm sure rumors have been going around all day and that my uncle did nothing to discourage it." Zuko turned away from the men growling and took Trina by the hand and led her down the hall.

They went out onto the deck where the sun was shining brightly. Trina squinted her eyes shut against its assault. It was one of those times that could be called a "vampire day." She hissed at the brightness when she finally reopened her eyes. When she opened her eyes she saw Iroh coming toward them.

"Ah, my two young benders, how are you this fine day?"

"It's too bright out here," Trina growled.

"My dear it was brighter yesterday than it is today. You had no problem then. Or is it perhaps the fact that you have seen no light all day before now that's the problem?"

"Maybe," she grumbled

"Now don't you think you should get something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," Trina said.

"Well you may not be, but I am," Zuko said. "Now come on."

"But I want to train."

"Then come with me and eat something first."

"I'm not hungry!"

"Well," Iroh put in, "you probably should eat something but I'll just leave you two to finish this on your own." He left them there and went on about his business.

"Alright fine, even if you don't eat anything you can still come with me so I can get something. I still think you should eat though, especially if we are going to train afterwards."

"Fine I'll come with you but I'm not going to eat anything."

Zuko shook his head but decided that it was best not to argue anymore because she was as stubborn as he was and if they didn't stop now it could go on for hours. They went below deck to the galley where Zuko got himself something to eat. He tried to offer some of it to Trina but she refused it. He sighed and went back to eating. Trina waited as patiently as she could for him to finish. When he rose from his chair Trina grabbed his hand and dragged him back up onto the deck.

"Finally! Now we can train. No more breathing exercises, I want to spar." She took up a fighting stance.

They started slowly but as Zuko saw that she could handle it he increased the speed and intensity of his attacks. Trina countered his attacks and sent fire balls of her own back at him. They continued like this for some time.

Trina was beginning to feel fatigued and tried to clear her head, shaking it. It did no good it simply made it worse. Hair that had come lose from her ponytail was hanging in her eyes and clung to her sweat soaked face. Black spots began to swim in her vision. _Maybe I should have eaten something._ Through the spots she saw a fire ball coming at her and felt there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was frozen in place, shaking and panting.

It was at that point that Zuko also realized what was happening. He knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop it and he watched in horror as the flames flew at her.

"NO!"

Trina was lucky. The fireball just grazed her upper left arm. When it hit her, her legs gave out from under her and she fell to her knees. Zuko was by her side almost instantly, supporting her. The way she was shaking scared him.

"Tarrina?" When she didn't answer him he became even more afraid for her. "Tarrina please speak to me."

He was rewarded with a slight moan and a whisper. "Z-Zuko?" She couldn't see him, there was too much darkness clouding her vision

"Yes it's me. J-just be stay with me, hold on. You'll be alright." Was the last thing she heard before she passed out.

He picked her up gently, careful to avoid touching the burn and went to the infirmary as quickly as he could. She was still shaking rather violently when he got her there.

He kicked the door open when he got there. The doctor had been sitting in a chair nearly asleep from boredom until Zuko burst in.

"Prince Zuko what-" he then noticed the weak form that he was carrying. "What happened this time?"

"We were sparring and she just kind of froze up and started shaking. I had thrown a fireball at her before I realized what was happening. A-at least it only grazed her," Zuko said as he laid her down on a cot. He hadn't meant for the worry and weakness slip out in his voice but it had none the less.

The doctor quickly inspected the burn and checked her over before asking, "Has she had anything to eat today?"

"No. She refused to eat anything. She said she wasn't hungry. Why?"

"That's the problem right there. I thought that's what it sounded like when you were telling me what happened. She may be a little dehydrated as well."

"She'll be alright then?" The relief was evident in his voice.

"Of course she will. We just need to get some food in her right now, then she'll need to rest."

He wrapped a temporary bandage around the burn and told Zuko to stay with Trina while he went to find her something to eat.

Trina moaned and began to come to. Zuko stood at her side and took her hand and held it to his face. When she spoke he had never been happier to hear her voice.

"Zuko, what happened ? When did I get back down into the infirmary?"

"I brought you down here. I didn't know what was wrong with you. I didn't know what else to do. I was afraid I might loose you."

She stroked his face and said, "Shh, My Prince, I'll be alright."

"I know that now. The doctor told me what's wrong. You haven't eaten today. I told you that you should eat."

"Yeah I know. But I've always been to stubborn for my own good."

"Now do you think you can listen to me once in a while from now on?"

"Maybe," she whispered as she moved her hand from his cheek to his shirt collar. She wrapped her fingers around the fabric and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss. Trina would have wrapped her other arm around him but when she tried to move it pain shot through it.

Zuko returned her kiss eagerly. He had though when the mishap first happened he thought he might loose her, and now to be kissing her lifted his spirit. He put one of his hands on her hip and supported his weight on the cot with the other.

They were so preoccupied with each other they never even noticed when the doctor reentered the room. They didn't notice his presence until he coughed to draw their attention. Zuko pulled back and they both turned bright red.

"I hope I didn't interrupt something too personal." At that both of the young benders faces turned an even deeper shade of red. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone about what I just saw. Now Tarrina when I let you out of here this time I expect it to be longer between your visits down here. Please _try _to keep your self out of trouble." She nodded at him. "Now let me see that burn again."

He unwrapped the bandaging that he had put on it to keep things from sticking to the burn. He examined it carefully and sighed. "There will be some scarring, there's no way to avoid it. To what extent I'm not sure yet, but this needs to be watched because if it becomes infected it will leave a large scar. I don't want you to move it anymore than you have to. It would probably be best if I put it in a sling." He put some kind of herbal smelling ointment on the burn and wrapped it in clean bandages. He helped Trina to sit up and put a red piece of cloth for a sling around her arm. "Leave that on until I tell you to take it off." Trina smirked at him. He then turned to Zuko and said, "Be sure that she doesn't do anything stupid."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she called from behind them.

"Alright. I shall leave you two alone for a while. Prince Zuko get her to eat this," the doctor said handing him a bowl of soup. "Then you can take her to bed, she's not bad enough to have to spend the night down here." Zuko nodded as the doctor left the room.

When Zuko moved closer with the bowl of soup Trina snatched the bowl out of his hands. "I thought you'd never come over here with that."

"So now you're hungry?"

"Duh." She ate the soup quickly, occasionally some of the broth would run down her chin before she wiped it off. When she had finished she said, "Now help me up and let's go."

Instead of helping her up, Zuko took her in his arms once again. "We always seem to end up in this position don't we?" He whispered into her ear.

"As much as I've grown to enjoy this, you do know I'm capable of walking, right?"

"Yes I know, but I'm not putting you down till were back in our room." When they entered the room Zuko laid her down on the bed. "You need to rest now," he told her.

"I've spent most of my day in bed and now you want me to rest more? How can I? I'm not tired."

"You should still try."

"How can I sleep when I have a wedding to plan? Now go get me some paper and something to write with."

Zuko shook his head. "Who are you to give orders to a prince?" He asked jokingly as he got some paper and a pencil out of a drawer.

"A future princess." It was at that point that it really first hit her that she was to become a princess. "Holy crap, I'm gonna be a princess." She seemed a bit dazed at the very thought of it.

"Yes, and you'll make a fine one at that," he whispered as he knelt beside her and kissed her cheek bringing her out of her haze. She smiled at him and he handed her the paper. "There plan to your heart's content."

She thanked him and began writing furiously on the paper. Occasionally she would mumble something to herself and then go on with her writing. "Zuko," she asked after writing for a while, "when and where are we going to have the wedding?"

"How about a month from now? And as to where, let's find somewhere nice on shore."

"You mean like a field of flowers?" She asked hopefully.

"If that's what you want."

"Alright, sounds good," she ended the sentence with a yawn.

"Do you think that you're finally ready to sleep now?"

"Yeah, maybe. Come to bed." She laid the paper on the floor beside the bed.

"I'll be there soon. I need to talk to Uncle Iroh," he said as he pulled the light blanket over her.

"Come back to me soon, my handsome prince," she said before quickly falling asleep.

Zuko picked the paper up off the floor and looked at it. She had made notes about a dress, a cake, flowers, food, music, and various other things. There was also a note concerning Lomi Ka. Written in large letters, circled and underlined were the words 'LOMI KA MUST BE THERE!' Zuko was a bit concerned about this considering she was with the Avatar, but he decided to not think about that at the moment.

He left the room silently so he would not disturb Trina. He met Iroh on the deck.

"Seems that you had quite a scare earlier today didn't you?"

"Yes Uncle. I thought I was going to loose her and that it would be my own fault."

"Now Prince Zuko, her refusal to eat was not your fault."

"But I pushed her. I pushed her too hard. She'll have a scar now because of me," he hung his head as he said the last part.

"Zuko stop this. Stop blaming yourself for everything. I'm sure if you were to ask Tarrina, she does not blame you." Zuko only sighed. "So tell me, what is that you have."

Zuko had forgotten that he still had the paper in his hand. "It's the notes that Tarrina has made so far in regard to the wedding."

"Let me see." Zuko handed the paper to his uncle. He scanned down the paper and stopped when he came to the Lomi Ka note. "What will you do about her friend?"

"I'm not sure yet but I know that she needs to be there. I'll think of something."

"Go to bed and think there. You look worn out." Zuko rolled his eyes and bid his uncle goodnight and returned to his room.

Zuko found Trina had kicked the blanket off. She was curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed holding onto his pillow. Her face was practically buried on it, it smelled like him you see.

He shook his head. He tried to pry it away from her without waking her, but she held it fast. Finally he gave up and lay down on the bed, crammed against the wall mind you because he didn't want to risk waking Trina by moving her out of the middle of the bed.

He lay there in that uncomfortable position for a while trying to convince himself that his uncle was right and that it wasn't his fault, but he just couldn't let it go. Because he hadn't realized what was happening she would be scarred. Scarred! He decided that it was best not to dwell on it at the moment, and tried to sleep. Eventually he was lulled to sleep by the sound of Trina's gentle breathing.

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**WITH CAROLINE**

Caroline actually slept in late the next morning, not wanting a repeat of the day before. Her nose was still swollen and bruising was starting to show. (Sokka had informed her of this the night before.) She stood and stretched her arms, and then walked out of the woods and onto the beach.

The cool sand and water felt delightful beneath her bare feet. The only thing that could've made the moment any more enjoyable was if Sokka had been there with her. As Caroline thought about it, she wondered where Sokka was. None of her companions had been around when she woke up.

While she was thinking about where they could be, she sneezed and flames shot out of her mouth. _I'm gonna need to learn to control that. _Caroline thought to herself. No sooner had the thought entered her head, than she heard shouting from further down the beach. She looked and saw three large men running in her direction shouting, "FIREBENDER!"

The sand beneath her feet began to move and she realized that they must be earth benders. She immediately took off running towards the woods.

She wasn't quick enough. The ground gave way beneath her feet and she sank up to her knees in sand. She tried to struggle free but couldn't. She was stuck fast and the earth benders were now standing over her. One of them grabbed her by the arm and roughly pulled her free.

"Don't hurt me!" Caroline pleaded. The man that had a hold on her laughed sinisterly and tightened his grip. Caroline gasped at the pain and prayed that her wrist wouldn't break from the pressure.

"We aren't going to hurt you." Another man said. "Not just yet anyway."

"Please! I'm a friend of the Avatar!" Caroline said quickly. "I am against the Fire Lord!"

"A likely story! No fire bender would be a friend of the Avatar's!"

Caroline was getting frustrated and desperately wanted to escape. "Shows how much you know!" She cried as she sent flames blossoming out of her trapped hand. Startled by her sudden attack, the man let her go and she took off running. The men immediately ran after her. She was much smaller than them though and so she was able to dart through the trees much easier than they could. It was in this way she put space between herself and them.

Caroline ran through the woods towards the clearing and their campsite. She didn't need to look to know that the earth benders were not far behind. _Oh, please let the others be there! _Her mind cried as she sprinted through the trees.

She burst into the clearing, skidded to a halt and looked around. No one was there. She found herself on the verge of tears, too frightened to think. She heard crashing in the woods behind her and knew that she now had no choice. She took off once again, rushing into the trees on the opposite end of the clearing and nearly bowling Sokka over in the process.

"Hey, Lomi Ka!" He said cheerily.

"Hide me please!" Caroline cried, interrupting him. "They're coming! Oh, please, hide me!"

Sokka didn't even think to ask who was chasing her and indicated to a tree with low branches. "Quick, climb up there!" He said, pausing to help her up. "Stay here 'til I get back!"

Caroline could only nod and struggle to catch her breath. "Be careful!" She called as he pulled out his boomerang and strode into the clearing. No sooner had he done so than the three burly earth benders broke through the trees.

"Hey! You!" They called to Sokka. "Seen a pretty little fire bender run through here recently?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." Sokka said. He pointed back the way they'd come, only slightly more to the left. "She ran that way not two minutes ago."

"Aye, thank you boy!" The earth bender said. He led his companions in the direction Sokka had pointed and soon nothing could be seen or heard from them. Sokka sheathed his boomerang and hurried back to find Caroline.

She was still in the tree where he'd left her, and now she was crying softly. Sokka climbed up into the branches beside her and wrapped his arms around her shuddering form. "It's all right now," He whispered gently. "They're gone."

"Oh, thank goodness you were here!" Caroline sobbed into his shoulder. "They would have killed me!"

"What did you do so that they knew you were a fire bender?" Sokka asked curiously.

Caroline actually laughed as she replied. "I sneezed!"

Sokka couldn't help but laugh as well, and soon Caroline's mood had improved. Sokka however, still held her close and she didn't object. "Thank you for rescuing me." Caroline said softly. "I owe you one."

"No, technically I still owe you one." Sokka replied. "You saved me once and I saved you. But you're forgetting when I was sick. You took great care of me and Katara while Aang was away. Oh, and you make some excellent tea!"

"Ah, but you helped me when I broke my nose yesterday."

"And then you washed my shirt for me."

"Well, I guess when you put it that way…" Caroline mused.

"I think I know just how to make it up to you, too."

"Oh, really?" Caroline asked, now extremely curious. "How's that?"

"Like this," Sokka whispered in her ear. He cupped his hand over her cheek and brought her lips lightly to his.

Caroline gasped and accidentally pulled away. That was certainly not what she'd expected. "Sorry…" Sokka mumbled, suddenly afraid he'd offended her.

"No, no! It's all right!" Caroline said quickly. "You just surprised me, that's all!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Now it would happen that at that very moment Aang and Katara chose to show up. "Hey guys! Is everything---?" The two stopped dead in their tracks when they caught sight of Caroline and Sokka in the low branches of a nearby tree, wrapped in each other's arms and kissing.

The sudden appearance of Aang and Katara startled them and they jumped apart. Both lost their balance and tumbled out of the tree and onto the hard ground. Caroline's face turned red with embarrassment and Sokka glared at his sister.

"Uh, perhaps we should go…" Aang said, noticing the look in Sokka's eyes. He grabbed Katara by the hand and led her back to the campsite, leaving Sokka and Caroline alone once again.

"Oh, how embarrassing!" Caroline moaned once they were gone. "How are we ever going to explain that one?"

"I don't know," Sokka replied while taking Caroline's hand. "Do you regret it?"

Caroline planted a small kiss on his cheek. "Not at all." Sokka smiled at this and led Caroline back towards the campsite.

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A note about the not eating thing. It was inspired by actual events. don't do something like eat almost nothing one day (the last thing being a 99cent bag of Doritos) and then eat nothing the next day, go to two college classes the walk to town at noon then have to walk back up the hill to your dorm with extra stuff. yeah I did that and almost passed out on the sidewalk. It was kinda scary to see all those dark spots and being super dizzy. If that nice cop hadn't picked me up and taken me back to my dorm I'm sure I would have passed out.

well now that I've bored you all with my life REVIEW!


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